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IN THE LAND OF TOLSTOI. 




COUNT TOLSTOI. 



IN 

THE LAND or TOLSTOI 



EXPERIENCES OF FAMINE AND MISRULE 
IN RUSSIA. 



BY 

JONAS STADLING AND WILL REASON. 



THOMAS WHITTAKEE, 2 & 3, BIBLE HOUSE. 

1897. 

v.- 



V 



^ 



29504 




PREFACE. 



Amid the broken recollections of classic lore that begin to 
fade into the limbo of " the subliminal consciousness/' as soon 
as we leave the discipline of our Alma Mater^ is a Roman 
saying that it is better to do doughty deeds than to write 
about them. 

The bearing of this observation lies in the fact that it is my 
friend^ Herr Stadling, whose experiences and gleanings in the 
land of Tolstoi are here set forth. He has borne the fatigues of 
travel, gone in and out of plague and famine-stricken huts, and 
gathered from eyewitnesses and authorities the facts that did 
not come under his own observation. These he recorded in a 
Swedish work, " Fran det Hungrande Ryssland." It has been 
my pleasant share, during a summer holiday on a pine-clad 
granite island between Stockholm and the Baltic, to co-operate 
with him in the rearrangement of the matter, to offer sugges- 
tions, and provide the whole with an English dress. "While most 
of the matter is contained in the Swedish book just mentioned, 
it has been entirely rewritten, with complete change of form and 
many omissions and additions, for the English public. Some of 
the experiences in the relief work proper have been narrated in 
different language in The Century Magazine (June and August, 
1894), and the story of Prince Khilkov has appeared, in other 
words and shorter form, in The 8unday Magazine. 

The illustrations are reproduced from the originals used in the 
Swedish book. They are for the most part from photographs 
taken by Herr Stadling, and afterwards drawn by Herr J. Tiren, 
one of Sweden's foremost living artists. 

WILL SEASON. 

Canning Town. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 
FIEST ACQUAINTANCE WITH COUNT TOLSTOI. page 

Arrival at Ejasan — Tolstoi's Early Life — Education — His Opinion of the 
Universities — Unsuccesful Efforts to Help the Peasants — Years of 
Dissipation — Establishes Schools on his Estate — Tolstoi as "Peace- 
maker" — Educational Work and Opinions — Influence in Eussia, &c. — 
Tolstoi and his Critics 1 

CHAPTEE II. 

CAUSES OF THE FAMINE 
Contrast of Famines in Eussia and Western Europe — Condition at the 
Emancipation — Broken Promises — Insufficiency of Allotments — 
Action of Landlords — Prince Vasiltchikov's Opinion — Proportion of 
Agriculturists in Eussia and other Countries— Nomadism — Capitalism 
and the Peasants — Kulacks and their Usury — Kulaclcs and Officials — 
Oppressive Taxation 12 

CHAPTEE III. 
TOLSTOI ON THE FAMINE. 
Tolstoi's Warnings to the Government — Their Eeception — Government 
Measures and Tolstoi's Criticisms — The True Cause of the Distress — 
Eussian Society— The True Eemedy 29 

CHAPTEE IV. 
EELIEF WOEK IN EJASAN. 
Countess Tolstoi's Letter— General Organisation — An Illustration of the 
Position — Defects of Government Eelief — Tolstoi's Methods — Visit to 
a Famine-Stricken Village — Countess Maria Tolstoi and her Father's 
Work — "Traits of Civilisation "^Destitution, Disease, and Death — 
Miss Kuzminsky and the Mir — More Starving Villages — Tolstoi's 
Difficulties — Sc me of his Helpers 41 

CHAPTEE V. 
TOLSTOI'S TABLE TALK. 
War — An Expensive Conscience — Modern Eeligious Sects — Eeligion and 
Invention — The Eussian Sectarians—" The Cafe of Surat" — Attitude 
to Political Governments — Western Literature and Mammon — Forth- 
coming Books — Is Tolstoi a Christian ? — The Nature of his 
Christianity ^. 61 



/ 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER VI. 

SPEING SCENES IN SAMARA. page 

On the Cars — Conditions of Russian Travel — A Prison Car — Relief Work 
in the City of Samara — Railroad Punctuality — MusMk Hospitality — 
A Molokhan Meeting — My Lodgings with Count Lyeff Tolstoi — Famine 
Scenes— A Wakeful Night—" Vot Klop ! "—Visit to Petrovka— In a 
Snowdrift — Von Birukov — Feeding on Clay — " He must he the 
Devil ! " — Orphaned Children — Upper-class Opinion and Government 
Opposition — An Address of Thanks — Birukov and the Priest — A 
Lenten Service — The Popes and the Villagers — A Cheap Marriage — 
The Pope and the Bell — A Peasant's Burial — The Burnt Sheepskin — 
Fine Feathers — The Rouble Note — Eastertide — Visit to a Horse-Farm 
— A Stormy Night — Black Thoughts — A Peasant Superstition — 
"Christos Voskresje ! " — Lack of Seed — A Farewell Visit — Count 
Lyeff Tolstoi — The Honest Physician ! 75 

CHAPTEE VII. 

A POLICY OF DEATH. 

Ignorance and Superstition Due to the Government — Repression of Schools 
— Schools under the Priests — An Extensive Curriculum — Attitude to 
Private Schools — An Educated Mushik — The Story of Semjanov — 
Educational Statistics — A Battle of Circulars — Ignorance and Disease 
— Superstition — Oiiicial Folly — Practical Consequences — A Sister of 
the People — The Hospital — Ravages of Disease — Responsibilities of 
the Church and Government ... ... ... ... ... 115 

CHAPTER VIII. 

A DAY IN A FAMINE-STRICKEN VILLAGE. 

(^S^pecially contributed by P. von Birukoff.) 
Early Dawn — Starved Horses — Applicants for Relief — A Terrible Story — 
In the Eating Room — Simplicity of Human Wants — A Hidden Izha — 
A Scorbutic Family — More Applicants — Weariness and its Effects — 
A Tangle of Thoughts 127 

CHAPTER IX. 

ON THE VOLGA. 

The Steamer Pusclikin — Soldiers' Songs — Peasants "Hunting'' — A Col- 
porteur — British and Foreign Bible Society — Influence of the Bible — 
A Peasant's Story of his Conversion — A "Cross Procession" — The 
Water Road to Exile — The City of Kasan — Tatars — Nishni Novgorod 
— A Sapient Governor — A LiberalProfessor of Theology — The Advan- 
tages of Orthodoxy — Feast Days in Russia— An Intelligent Official ... 140 



^ Contents. xi 

CHAPTER X. 

AMONG GERMAN- COLONISTS. page 

Skilful Boatmen — Adventures in a Row->>oat — The German Colonies — 
Their, Prospering — and Decay — Mennonite Colonies — Their Principles 
— A Visit — An Oasis in the Desert — Peace and Plenty — A Miracle of 
Co-operation — Land for All — Successful Prohibition — A Wonderful 
Eecord of "Crime" — "No Priests, Policemen, Publicans, or Paupers" 
—Co-operation and Competition ... ... ... ... ... ... 151 

CHAPTER XI. 
IN THE CITY OF SARATOV. 
The City — General Ustimovitch— A Stundist Meeting^ — A Prison-Evan- 
gelist — Detectives — A Notable Picnic — Consecration of the Volga — 
Calumny against Stundists — AnOrthodoxMissioDary— Holy Water ... 159 

CHAPTER XII. 
PRINCE DMITRI KHILKOV. 

His Questionings—Abandonment of Property — Lif e as a Jftts/iifc — Influence 
on the Peasants — Conflict with Landowners — with the Church — "The 
Damned Stundist "—Banishment by "Administrative Process" — 
Journey into Exile — A Well-meant Offer — Settlement of Baschkitchet 
— Activity during a Cholera Epidemic — An Official Medical Commis- 
sion — Imperial Persecution — His Confession ... ... 169 

CHAPTER XIII. 
A RUINED FAMILY. 

Wealth and Rank — A Good Landowner and his Clever Son — Schooldays — 
Liberal Opinions and their Dangers — Disorder in the Schools — Acces- 
sion to the Estate — Scientific Research and Police Suspicion — At 
Moscow — A Cruel Plot — Solitary Confinement Uncondemned — The 
Sentence — Exile to Siberia — Destitution — Better Things — "No 
Eights" — Police a,nd Love Affairs — Fate of a Refugee — Waste of 
Human Life — Loss of the Estate — A Young Girl's Religious Experi- 
ences — Education— Good Prospects — Struggle after Truth — Reading 
the New Testament — Persecution by Priests and Police — Exile — A 
Generous Revenge — Another Sister's Fate — And a Brother's — 
Mammon and Priestcraft ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 183 

CHAPTER XIV. 

OLDER RUSSIAN SECTS. 

Taardom and Orthodoxy — Reforms of Nikon — The Stanoveri — Fopovtsi and 
Bespo;povtsi — The "Antichrist-Tsar" — Specimens of Hymns — Contempt 
of Suffering — StranniU (Wanderers) and Beguni (Fugitives) — How 



xii Contents. 

PAGE 

They are Made — A Sectarian's Story — Moltchalniki (Dumb) — An 
Advocate's Experience — Prugoni (Dancers) and 0?ilisf i (Flagellators) — 
Origin and Tenets — Initiation Ceremonies— Orgies— iS&02)tsi (Mutila- 
tors) — Mutilation — Samoistreiitjeli {Suicides) —Nje Nashi (Agnostics) 
— Their Behaviour towards Authorities ... ... ... ... ... 199 

CHAPTER X7. 

LATER SECTS, 

Close Connection between Social Conditions and Religious Development — 
The Upper Classes and the People — The Schalaputi — Religious Tenets 
— Communism — Conscience the Sole Lawgiver — Molokhani and 
Dukhobortsi — The Stundists ; their Origin — Letter from a Persecuted 
Adherent — Testimonies to the Moral Life of Stundists — The Missionary 
Gathering in St. Petersburg — Bishop Nikanor — Outrages in Kiev — 
Prince Khilkov's Letters — General Usiimovitch's Protest — Character 
Sketches —Ivan Tchaika — Ustim Dolgolenko — Panass Pantilimono- 
vitch Tolupa 227 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE TWO WORLDS, PEASANT AND OFFICIAL. 

Two Nations in One — Study of "the People" — The "Mir" — Peasants' 
Views on Land Tenure — On Jurisdiction Generally — Later Corruption 
by Officialism — TcMnovniks and the " Mir " — Examples of Official 
Oppression — "Uriadniks "or Rural Police — Their Misdeeds — Wicked- 
ness in High Places — The Logoschino Affair — Experiences of a Russian 
Friend — Tolstoi's Description of Russian " Justice " ,., 257 

CHAPTER XVII. 

IS THEBE A REMEDY? 

A Conversation— A Russian's Views — The Fatal Breach — ^True Division of 
Labour — Healthful Development— Paramount Claims of Life — A 
Revolution Inevitable — " Go to the People " ... „« ... ,.. 277 



LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. 



Count Tolstoi „ 

Tolstoi's Headquarters at Ejasan 

A MusHiK Family 

A MuSHIK ON THE TrAMP 

The Widow's Last Cow 

Tolstoi Taking Notes ... 

Consulting the Starosts 

Waiting for Help 

Countess Maria Tolstoi 

An Eating-room 

Frost AND Famine 

Miss Kuzminskt and the Peasants 

Before a Dismantled Izba 

A Group of Tatars 

The Younger Tolstoi's Headquarters at Patrovka 

Tolstoi's Chief Helper ... 

Applicants for Aid 

Village Street in Patrovka 

Starving Orphans 

Government Buildings in Patrovka 

Church in Patrovka 

A Mushik's Funeral ... 

Delivered bt Death 

Snowdrift at the End of April 

Peasants Cutting Through the Snow 

The Kumiss Farm 

Herr Faltvabel ... 

Jabhka 

Mushikb Waiting for the Distribution of Seed Corn... 

*' The Graves op My Friends " 

Count Lyeff Tolstoi, Junior 



Frontispiecb 


. . . page 1 


17 




.. 21 




.. 25 


... 


.. 41 




.. 45 




.. 48 




.. 49 




.. 53 




.. 56 




.. 57 


... 


.. 60 




.. 76 




.. 77 


... 


.. 81 


... 


.. 84 


... 


... 85 


... 


.. 89 


... 


.. 92 


... 


.. 93 


... 


.. 96 




.. 97 


... 


.. 101 




.. 101 




.. 104 


... 


.. 104 


... 


.. 105 




..105 




.. 109 


... 


.. 113 



XIV 



List op Illttsteations. 



ScHooii Chudeen at Plat 

An Impkovisbd Typhus Hospital 

Cattle Grazing on the Steppe 

Inside an Izba ... ... ... 

General TJstimovitch and His Paper, " Brotherly Help ' 

A Picnic Party 

Consecrating the Volga 

Title-page of "The Damned Sttjndist" 

A Street in Samara 

An "Oboz/' or Train of Sledges, Bearing Food 
Nonconformist Exiles in Transcaitcasia ... 

A TrANSCAUC ASIAN TowN 



PAGE 

117 
121 
128 
137 
161 
164 
165 
172 
197 
225 
237 
241 




TOLSTOIS HEADQUARTERS AT RJASAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

FIEST ACQUAINTAlSrCE WITH COUNT TOLSTOI. 



Arrival at Rjasan — Tolstoi's Early Life— Education — His Opinion of the Uni- 
versities — Unsuccessful Efforts to Help the Peasants in Years of 
Dissipation — Establishes Schools on his Estate — Tolstoi as " Peace- 
maker" — Educational Work and Opinions — Influence in Eussia, &c. — 
Tolstoi and his Critics. 

It was on a cold, stormy morning in March, 1892, the year 
of the great famine, that I arrived at the railway-station 
of Klekotki, in the province of Rjasan, In company with 
Madame B., who was also bound for the same place, I at once 
set out to drive to the headquarters of Count Tolstoi, distant 
some twenty-six miles across the plains, where he was hard at 
work relieving the needs of the starving peasants. The grey, 
woolly clouds were chasing each other at great speed ; snow- 
wreaths whirled about us, and a heavy fall had hidden the 
road completely. At one or two , points in the landscape we 

1 



FiEST Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 



could see a few trees that marked a landowner's dwelling, or a 
village with its church cupola and row of small, grey huts. At 
one part our journey took us for two miles along a road built 
by the Empress Catherine II., lined ou either side with stately 
trees. It was heavy driving through the deep snow, so that 
we did not reach the River Don, on the further shore of 
which lay the village of Begichevka, our destination, until the 
afternoon. 

The mon).ent was now drawing near when I was, for the first 
time, to meet Count Tolstoi — a moment to which I had been look- 
ing forward throughout my long journey as to one of the most 
interesting occasions of my life. I was about to come into 
personal contact with a man whose greatness not even his 
bitterest enemies can dispute, in whom many an earnest 
seeker after truth discerns a seer and prophet, marking the 
dawn of a new era in the history of man. 

Soon our driver drew up before a plain, one-storied wooden 
house, and called out, " Vot dom Tolstova ! " (^'^This is Tolstoi's 
house.") About the premises were a number of peasants, cart- 
ing loads of flour and grain. As we entered, we passed first 
through a kind of ante-chamber, densely crowded with 
■mushiJis, waiting to see the Count, then into a larger apart- 
ment that served as a dining-room. Tolstoi himself was not 
in, but I was shown into his private room behind the hall — a 
small apartment simply furnished with a sofa, a cot-bed, a few 
plain wooden chairs, and a large table covered with account 
books and papers. I found myself occupying the waiting time 
in speculations as to the impression Count Tolstoi would make 
on me. I could not succeed in divesting myself of the '^ great 
man " idea of the Count, the aristocrat, the famous autJior, the 
great genius. All these hid from me the image of him as a 
man, the brother of men. 

After a few minutes, a young lady came in, and gave me a 
cordial greeting. I asked if she were the Count's daughter, 
but she replied, " No ; I am his niece. My name is Kuzmin- 
sky." While I was speaking with her another young ladj^ 
entered, with an energetic expression and lively eyes ; she, too, 
greeted me in good English. 



FiKST Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 



'' Countess Tolstoi '? " I asked. 

"The J call me so/' she said. 

At the same moment a deep voice was heard in the hall, and 
the Count himself stood before me, dressed in a large sheep- 
^skiu coat of the kind worn bj the mushiks. With a hearty 
grip of his strong hand he bade me welcome, asked about my 
journey, admired my Lapp dress, and showed me into a small 
room that I was to occupy. Then he told me to hold out my 
feet, and pulled off my Lapp boots. This was done so simply 
that they were off before I thought of protesting. Yet 
the spectacle of Count Tolstoi, whose greatness had been filling 
my mind a moment or two before, pulling off my boots like a 
■common servant left me breathless with surprise. Then things 
took their proper perspective, and I saw the naturalness of it, 
and learnt more from this little unaffected deed of helpfulness 
than from all the learned lectures I had heard or all the 
volumes of theology I had read. I was in the presence of a 
man who had devoted a whole life to passionate search 
■after truth and reality, and had found '^^the meaning of life " 
in following Him " who came not to be served, but to serve " ; 
Si man who not only talks about " egalite et fraternite, but 
whose life is egalite et fraternite." 

I had come to do what I could to help in his work among the 
starving mushiks, but before giving an account of what I 
myself saw and heard while with this notable family in that 
sadly memorable famine year of 1892, it will be worth while to 
:give a rapid sketch of the Count's life and character, as a man 
:and the friend of men. 

Count Tolstoi, the author, is well known, and has received 
his place among the foremost geniuses of the day. Leo Tolstoi, 
the philosopher and social reformer, has been amply discussed 
both by those who regard him as a new prophet, and those 
who look on him as a fanatic and a crank. The man Lyeff 
Xikolaievitch is comparatively little known. He has, it is 
true, told us somewhat of himself and his struggles after truth 
in his Confession, and throughout his other writings are 
scattered incidents taken from his own experiences. But he 
:has said little or nothing of his work for his fellows, and what 



4 FiEST Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 

lie has told us has been liable to the failings of all auto- 
biography. He has spoken of his life as it looks to himself. 
But Oliver Wendell Holmes says somewhere that when we say 
there are two people conversing there are really six. There is 
A. as he appears to self, A. as he appears to B, A. as he 
appears to God, and the same with B. Tolstoi has given the 
first aspect ; the second is the one we must take. With our 
many burning social questions to-day, it is of more importance 
to us to know what such a man as Tolstoi has done and is 
doing to bring about their solution, than to be familiar with 
the characters in ^^ Anna Karenina," and others of his novels. 
Moreover, I heard from some personal friends of the Count, 
that his descriptions of his "^ wild oats " are very highly 
coloured. To those who knew him, he belonged certainly to a 
fast set, but on his personal character there was no stain. As 
for the third aspect mentioned by Holmes, we must wait awhile 
for that, if we are ever able to grasp it. 

Tolstoi grew up without the knowledge of a mother's love ; 
she died when he was eighteen months old (he w^as born in 
1828, August 28, old style) ; and his father left his family, 
which was a large one, when the little Lyeif Nikolaievitch was 
nine years old. So it happened that much of his early educa- 
tion was in the hands of relatives, of whom one, at least, is 
described as hardly fitted to guide a youth's first steps in the 
paths of m.anly virtue. In his home on his ancestral estate of 
Jasnaja Pol j ana, in the province of Tula, he was under the 
care of both a French and a German tutor, the former of 
whom remained in the family until, at the age of fifteen, the 
young Count entered the University of Kasan. For three years 
he studied philology, history, and Eussian literature. But he 
soon lost faith in that *^ temple of wisdom," to which 
Puschkin's words were thoroughly applicable : ^^As everything 
in Eussia is purchasable, so examinations and degrees of 
learning also are a. merchandise with the professors." Charac- 
teristic both of the state of things at the university and the 
views and tendencies of the young Count, is his description of 
the teaching given there. " History," he said, " is nothing 
but a collection of fables and details often meaningless or 



First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 5 

absurd. The positive in it is a mass of dates and names of no 
value. Tiie death of Prince I^or, the snakes that bit the hero 
Olef, &c., — what are those things but nursery tales, and who 
needs to know if Ivan the Terrible married the daughter of 
Tomruck exactly on the 21st August, 1562, or if his fourth 
marriage, with Anna Alexijevna, took place in 1572? And 
yet they require of me that I shall know all this by heart ; if 
not, I get a shameful "one" on my certificate. And how they 
write history I All is arranged after a given pattern. . . . 
Ivan the Terrible, e.g., of whom Professor Ivan has had so 
much to tell us, was suddenly changed in 1560 — something 
that has no interest whatever either for you or me — from a 
noble, vii-tuous, and wise ruler, into a mad, licentious, and 
terrible tyrant. Why ? How ? About this you may not even 
ask a question." 

Small wonder that the young student, athirst for truth, 
S3"mpathising warmly, though as yet half-consciously, with 
the downtrodden and oppressed, regarded this ^'temple of 
learning " as a useless institution. No doubt his lack of 
interest in many of the subjects had something to do with his 
being " plucked " at an examination, but it is also certain that 
this was largely brought about by one of those intrigues so 
common in a corrupt societ}'. A hostile professor — hostile 
because of family reasons — refused to give him his due where 
he was incontestably efficient. This incident strengthened his 
determination to leave the university and give himself up to 
the work of elevating the peasants on his paternal estate, 
which had, by a combination o£ causes, not necessary to detail, 
passed into his hands. 

He returned to Jasnaja Pol j ana in 1846, and fiung all his 
energy into the task of raising both the economical and moral 
standard of peasant life. He failed, in spite of his ample 
means, warm heart, and indomitable pluck. The peasants 
would not let him pull down their rotten, old tumble-down 
huts, even to put up new and convenient ones at his own 
cost ; they also refused to send their children to school. 
He found, as so many others have done, that good in- 
tentions alone are not sufficient to cope with ingrained evil. 



6 FlKST AcQUAINTAlSrCE WITH CoUNT ToLSTOI. 

nor can the results of centuries of slavery be undone even in a 
lifetime. 

The disappointed jouth resolved to go to Petersburg in 
the autumn of 1847, to continue his studies, intending this 
time to take a degree in law. But the juridical hair-splitting 
of Petersburg satisfied him no more than the fables of Kasan. 
He returned to his estate in 1848. 

It was at this period that the years of dissipation occurred 
that have been referred to above ; then followed his experience 
as a soldier in Caucasia, and his successful career as a novelist. 
Still, through all these varied years he retained his love of the 
people unchanged ; unlike some who have feebly tried to help' 
the poor, and have drawn back into their selfish ease like a 
snail into its shell, at the first touch of what the}^ loudly 
proclaim as '^ingratitude." In Caucasia, as well as in 
European E-ussia, he was careful to keep himself in living 
touch with the people, not simply to study their life, but to- 
give them real aid and sympathy. This love of men is reflected 
in his writings. He cared nothing for outward events nor 
outward greatness, but for everything that influences the moral 
development of the individual, though so slight as to escape 
superficial observation altogether. In a word, this young- 
author cared for man, and made living men and women the 
object of his genius. His first book, "Utro Pomestchika " 
(The Landlord's Morning), and those that followed are full of 
that deep sympathy with the oppressed and the poor, that love 
of the people, that Tourgenieff sneeringly stigmatises as- 
" hysterical." 

Shortly after the Crimean War (Tolstoi bore his part in the 
siege of Sebastopol), he visited Western Europe, in order to- 
study the school systems in use there, with a view to his work 
of raising the life of the Russian peasantry. On his return he 
began to establish schools on his own estate of Yasnaya 
Poljana. 

The same j'ear, 1861, saw the abolition of serfdom — in name,, 
at least. Tolstoi probably saw more clearly than the rest of 
his countrymen the enormous difficulty of making this paper- 
emancipation an actual fact, and thus realising the ideal of 



First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 



the Reform Part}^ The first great difficulty was the 
settlement of the disputes that immediately arose between 
the landowners and the former serfs. The majority of the 
nobles were opposed to emancipation, and only a few had 
voluntarily liberated their bondsmen. To meet these diffi- 
culties the office of miravoj posrednik^ or " peacemakers," was 
established, and the Count occupied this office in his own 
district, which he filled with untiring zeal. This was the only 
civil post ever held by him, so far as we know. His unswerving 
sense of justice often brought him into conflict with the 
landlords, but he cared about opinions as little then as now. 
On the other hand, he often had to refuse the demands of 
the peasants, but their faith in him had become so strong that 
they always acquiesced in his decision. 

Besides this work, he threw himself heart and soul into 
his plans of education for the tnushihs. As early as 1849 he 
had established a school for peasant children on his estate. 
Another succeeded in 1857, and the third in 1861. In this he 
himself conducted the instruction, with the help of four 
students from Moscow, and a German named Keller. From 
early morning till late at night he was engaged in active 
teaching, devising and trying new methods. The principal 
school was in his own house. All instruction was, of 
course, gratuitous, and the children were also frequently 
fed. In one form or another these schools have continued 
ever since. If closed as schools by the interference of 
police or priests, the children have been invited by the 
Tolstoi family "to tea," which feast included food for the 
mind also. 

In connection with this work of teaching, Count Tolstoi 
edited for many years a monthly magazine called " The 
School," the contents of which were entirely devoted to 
education, and were of great interest. The fundamental idea 
of his "free schools" is the gradual realisation of the moral 
ideal, taken in its widest sense. Not so much development 
simply, as the harmony of development, should be the aim of 
all education. " Therein lies the eternal error of all lyedagogic 
theories,'' says Tolstoi, "that they make development 



FiKST Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 



per se, the development of some special side of the child's 
being-, their object and aim." 

It is in the child itself, according to him, that the primary 
conditions for realising the ideal are to be found. " We must 
listen to the voice of the people," he says. The more he 
learned to know the young- minds unfolding under his care, 
^' listened " to their emotions, and watched the expression of 
them in their lives, the warmer grew his love for them, and his 
admiration for that simple poetry that surrounds childhood 
as an atmosphere. At the same time his faith in tho 
so-called education of the upper classes, that carries them 
farther and farther from the true and natural, waxed weaker 
and weaker. 

" Are the peasant children to learn from us how to write, or 
we from them? " he asks in his paper. He had set a number 
of boys of eleven or twelve to write down their thoughts and 
observations on different matters, or describe their experiences, 
and had made the astonishing discovery that they exhibited, 
as he expresses it, "an artistic power to which not even a 
Goethe could attain." This discovery made an overwhelming- 
impression on Tolstoi. '^ I was frightened, and at the same 
time happy as a treasm-e-seeker, who on Midsummer Night 
has found the St. John's wort — happy, because I suddenly saAv 
before me the philosopher's stone which I had been seeking 
for two toilsome years — the art of learning how to express 
one's thoughts ; frightened, because this art evokes new wants, 
and a whole new world of wishes, which, as I saw at once, did 
not correspond to the surroundings in which these children 
live." It was not only a solution of the educational, but also 
of the religious question, that Tolstoi believed he had found 
in the life of these peasants, from whom in this also we have 
more to learn than they from us. 

His paradoxes on the uselessness of what is commonl}" 
understood as education, art and science, are not to be taken 
as a condemnation of education, art and science in themselves. 
In one of his later works he says, " Art is not to disappear, but 
to become something else, better and higher." It is only in 
the service of selfishness that they are bad. The best proof 



First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 9 



of this is in his own untiring work in his schools, in his 
distribution of books and tracts among the peasants, and his 
gigantic scheme of a popular library, which is to contain a 
digest of the best that has been written bj the best men in all 
ages, to be published in a popular form at one penny a volume. 

After the radical change in his ideas and life, or rather the 
ripening of those ideas that had been germinating and 
growing within him all his lifetime, he devoted himself 
entirely to help and raise the downtrodden people by sharing 
their life. His attempt in Moscow, after his removal there in 
1881, to aid the teeming masses of the miserabl}'' poor and 
degraded in that city have been most graphically described by 
himself in his book " What to do? " Here he says : — 

" Through much painful struggle I came to see that I had a 
share in the cause of all this misery. I stood up to my ears 
in the mud, and wanted to pull others out of it ! I, the 
parasite, I, the louse, which eats into the leaves of the tree, 
want to promote the health and growth of that tree ! I now 
come to the following simple conclusion, that it is my duty to 
reap and use the fruits of the labours of others ! 

" By a long and roundabout way I reached the unavoidable 
result that was expressed a thousand years ago among the 
Chinese : ^If one man is idle, some one else dies of hunger.' " 

Tolstoi despaired of being able to help the poverty and vice 
that prevailed in the city, and seemed inseparable from populous 
towns. He therefore left Moscow, to lead the life and share 
the toil of the peasants. 

It is quite natural that such a man as this should have 
attracted many admirers and followers — many more of the 
former than the latter ! — and that he should also have drawn 
upon himself many vehement criticisms and bitter calumnies. 
It is difficult to over-estimate his great influence both in his 
own and in foreign countries, although this has been greatly 
disparaged by some ; over the youth of Russia it has been 
especially great. Banned b}^ the censor, his later writings are 
being copied, distributed clandestinely, and read by millions. 
Hundreds, if not thousands, of young men have through his 
influence left the terroristic party and donned the armour of 



10 First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. 

Christ, hj whicli to fight the powers of darkness and oppression - 
Several ^'^ Christian commanLties" have been established in 
different parts of Russia in order to put his principles into 
practice, and have thriven until they have been broken up by 
the police, or through the intrigues of enemies. A large 
number of his peaceful followers are now in exile either in 
Trans-Caucasia or Siberia, while others have " gone to the 
people," to share their life and toil in order to serve them and 
make their life richer and nobler. 

In England itself there is a powerful testimony to his influ- 
ence in the large sale of his books, and the eagerness with 
which the articles fiom his pen that have recently appeared 
in the newspapers have been read ; at the universities his books 
are well known, and thoughtful working men are familiar with 
his ideas. Much of his philosophy may be rejected, many of 
his results may be held to have come to him solely through the 
ahnormal conditions of the Russian society in which he has had 
his origin and passed the greater part of his life. The present 
writers, in admiring the man, by no means accept all his ideas» 
But as a living force, as a man who thinks for himself and sets 
other people thinking too, it is difficult to compare him with 
any other figure of modern times. 

Tolstoi's critics are many and of va,ried hue ; from the priest& 
who frighten the peasants with stories of his branding all the 
musliiks who come to him for counsel and aid with the seal of 
the devil on their hands and foreheads, and the bishops who 
preach against him as Antichrist personified ; to the ofiicials 
and politicians who represent him as a dangerous revolutionary, 
seeking to rouse the people to armed revolt ; and the gossips 
who circulate stories about his professing to be a vegetarian, 
while rising in the night to eat his beefsteak. A certain 
Russian professor, for example, has written a long series of 
articles in a Russian review, called the "^Ruskaja Mj'-sl,"' 
trying to explain Tolstoi's " peculiarities " from " his in- 
herited desire to live in the open air " ; hence, all his work 
among the people, his relief work, e.g., among the starving 
millions during the great famine, is only "^ a kind of sport." 

We do not speak of thoughtful men who conscientiously 



First Acquaintance with Count Tolstoi. II 

dissent from his opinions. But when you have known this 
greatest son of Russia personally, and seen this nobly-born 
magnate and great genius daily devoting all the powers of his 
mind, all the strength of his indomitable will, all the warmth 
of his large and generous heart, to help and uplift the down- 
trodden, oppressed, and degraded peasants, and have seen, on 
the other hand, the motley crowd of his critics and calum- 
niators, fops, mammon-worshippers, courtiers, and priests, with 
borrowed wisdom, drawing-room philosophy, fossil dogmas,^ 
cut and polished, and a Pharisaism that will almost put to the- 
blush that of Judaic origin, it is as if a swarm of noxious 
insects were buzzing round a giant ditcher, toiling in the 
sweat of his brow to drain a stinking and poisonous marsh, 
and were raging over his attempt to destroy their para- 
dise in which they have grown fat, attacking his perspiring 
body, and seeking some open wound received during his noble 
toil, in which to instil their corrosive poison, and fatten 
themselves on his substance. 



CHAPTER 11. 

CAUSES OF THE FAMINE. 

Contrast of Famines in Russia and Western Europe — Condition at the Eman- 
cipation — Broken Promises — InsufBciency of Allotments — Action of 
Landlords — Prince Vasiltchikoff's Opinion — Proportion of Agricul- 
turists in Eussia and other Countries — Nomadism — Capitalism and 
the Peasants — Kulacks and their Usury — Kulacks and Officials — 
Oppressive Taxation. 

Thirty-five millions of people starving, at the close of the nine- 
teenth centur}^, with its marvellous network of railroads and 
other means of communication, its wonderful development in 
all the means of production, and its loudly boasted organisation 
of labour, in times of peace, and in a country endowed with 
unlimited natural resources ! This is so remarkable a 
phenomenon, that it can only be explained by a concurrence of 
abnormal causes. 

It is well known that years of dearth and famine decrease 
both* in intensity and frequency as civilisation and means of 
communication develop. In England, for example, during the 
fifteenth century, when in normal years food was cheap, labour 
well paid, and wealth, as it was known at that time, more 
generally diffused than in any century since, there were times 
when the crops failed through bad seasons, and the population, 
limited bj its crude husbandry and without foreign or colonial 
cornfields to draw upon, suffered severely by disease and death. 
Under the cruel Corn Laws of later times, which shut out the 
people's bread to fill the pockets of one class, the same 
phenomenon was seen. In Western Europe, generally during 
the middle ages, famines occurred on the average every eighth 
or tenth year, and were accompanied by great mortality among 
the poor. But in the present day, by the remarkable develop- 
ment of international trade and the opening up of gigantic 



Causes of the Famine. 



corn areas in different parts of the world, these years of dearth 
have become a thing of the past, in such countries as have 
adopted the enlightened policy of interdependence, with some 
measure of domestic freedom. 

Eussia, however, is a remarkable exception to this rule. Of 
course, famines occurred in the olden time. In the ISTikonian 
Chronicle, which covers the period between 1127 — 1803, there 
are eleven years of famine recorded. In 1128 the population 
of Novgorod lived on the bark and birch of lime trees, and in 
1 229-30 a large part of Middle and Northern Russia was 
devastated by famine. But during the last tAvo and a-half 
decades the years of dearth have increased to such an extent 
that in many parts the peasants may be said to be in a chronic 
state of famine. The semi-official joiu-nal, Novoje Vremja, 
for October 7, 1891, says that scarcely a year passes without a 
visitation of some part of the Empire. This is borne out by 
the terribly increasing mortality among the peasants. The 
average rate of mortality in the whole of E-ussia is about 34 
])ev 1,000, and, contrary to the experience of Western Europe, 
where the death-rate is higher in the towns, in Eussia it is 
the rural population that yields the higher figures. Among' 
the peasants of Central Eussia, for example, the frightful rate 
of 64 per 1,000 has been reached. In 1885 a Medical Congress 
was convened at Moscoav for the purpose, among others, of 
investigating the causes of the growing mortality among 
the peasants. The Congress decided that it was due to the 
insufficent quantity and bad quality of the food, i.e., to chronic 
famine. 

The explanation of this extraordinary state of things can 
only be made b}^ reference to the course of events since the 
emancipation of the serfs. During the period of serfdom, 
which is usually understood to date from the decrees of 
Boris Godunoff, tying the serfs to the soil on which they 
worked, to the abolition under Alexander II. in 1861, the 
peasants were certainly often subjected to great cruelty, but 
their masters had a direct pecuniary interest in keeping them 
from starvation. 

In the introduction to the Act of Emancipation, the Govern- 



14 Causes of the Famine. 

ment made tlie following well-soundiug promise : — ^' To provide 
the peasants with the means of satisfying their wants and 
•enable them to fulfil their duties toward the State " {i.e., to 
pay taxes) ; " for this purpose they shall receive in inalienable 
possession allotments of cultivable land and other belongings, 
which in this Act are to be specified." 

How has this promise been kept ? 

The so-called '' dvorovije,'" or serfs attached personally to 
their lords, and not occupying any land, became proletarians 
in the cities. The serfs proper did receive allotments, which 
were handed over to the " mir," or village community, which 
was to be responsible for the payment of the ^' redemption 
money " for the land as well as the taxes. The Government 
paid out the landlords in a lump sum, so that the peasants 
were henceforth responsible directly to the Government for 
■everything. The price paid to the landlords was supposed to 
represent the capitalised " obrok '' or rent (about 9-12 roubles 
|)er allotment) . But the valuation was actually made, not on 
the market value of the land, hut on the supposed loss to the 
•landlord caused hy the emanf^ipation, which in most cases 
reached a much higher figure. To illustrate by a parallel, 
dt would have been the same in the United States if, on the 
emancipation of the slaves, the liberated negroes had received 
allotments and been made to pay the cotton planters the 
purchase-money for their freedom, instead of simply a fair 
Tent for their land. 

This was the first hardship imposed on the unfortunate 
.mushihs. In the second place, the allotments were ridiculously 
insufficient to supply even their limited needs. To maintain a 
ipeasant family at least ten to fourteen hectares are required. 
(A hectare is about two and a-half acres.) To understand 
this apparently high estimate, as it would be considered in 
England, it must be remembered that out of the produce the 
peasant had to pay the extraordinary high rent referred to 
-above, and the Government taxes, which in Russia are, of 
course, far heavier than in England, and also that the survival 
of the " three field " system and other drawbacks of Russian 
^agriculture made the produce of far less value per acre 



Causes of the Famine. 15 



than with us. But^ as a matter of fact, one-fourth of the 
peasants received only 0-8 hectares to " each male soul " {i.e., 
adult able-bodied man), and about one-half received from two 
to three hectares. Even if free from debt and taxation, the 
peasants could not live on these plots more than 150-180 days 
in the year. Either then they must rent land, which is only 
accessible to them at unreasonably high prices, or leave their 
homes and become proletarians or slaves. Bat, of course, they 
were started with a heavy debt, and the taxes are ruinously 
■oppressive. The annual "redemption money " has amounted 
to 185-275 per cent, of the real rentable value, and the taxation 
for the Army, the Church, and other Imperial purposes 
increases yearly. Moreover, the increase of population has 
led to a still further decrease in the size of the allotments, 
making the position of the unhappy inushiks still worse. 
For it must be noticed, j?<xce Malthus, that miserable 
-conditions of life, so far from being a " check " to population, 
are direct stimuli, except in the case of sudden and over- 
whelming disaster. According to o£B.cial statistics, collected 
by the Government in 1878, the allotments in fifteen govern- 
jm.ents averaged only 1-2 hectares per " male soul " ; in some 
parts it did not even reach one hectare. 

In the third place, the landlords have taken advantage of 
the ignorance and niiserj- of the peasantry and their own 
authoritative positions to cosen, cajole, or terrify them out of 
their most valuable pasture and forest land, and have after- 
wards rented it out to them again at prices they could fix at 
will. 

Prince Vasiltchikoff, Chairman of the Agricultural Congress 
at Petersburg in 1886, speaking of the position of the 
peasants, said: ^' Since that time (1871) the agricultural 
proletariat has increased with alarming rapidity. Through 
statistical researches, made by the State authorities in 
Moscow, it has been proved that the agricultural proletariat 
has increased by 25 per cent. This shows that one-fi.fth of 
the entire population of the Empire, and one-third of the 
rural population in Russia proper, or about twenty millions 
of souls are agricultural 'proletarians, i.e., as many as the 



16 Causes of thji; Famine. 

entire number of serfs at the emancipation.* And I do not 
dare to affirm that the life of our agricultural proletarians is 
more tolerable than that of the former serfs." 

It must be remembered that in Russia the agriculturists 
form the great bulk of the industrial population. In France 
the non-agricultural labourers form 23 per cent., in Italy 25 
per cent., in Austria 27 per cent., in Germany 32 per cent., 
and in England 53 per cent, of the whole population ; in 
Russia they only form 1} per cent. These figures, moreover, 
show no signs of increase, but rather of diminution. From 1866 
to 1885 the non-agricultural industrial classes have decreased 
by 0-08 per cent. Of the 110,000,000 of inhabitants only 1^ 
millions are non-agricultural labourers. In fact, the agricul- 
tural labourers of Russia are almost equal in number to the 
entire (non-agricultural) industrial population of the rest of 
Europe. 

Owing to the impossibility of earning a living at home, 
explained above, the Russian peasantry is increasingly '^' on the 
move." In some governments, e.g., Nishni Novgorod, entire 
villages thus migrate with the women and children. Cattle 
hey usually have none. A few years before the late famine 
of 1891-2, more than 60 per cent, of the Russian peasants 
did not possess either horse or cow. No wonder that in many 
places the women drag the plough ! 

The peasants are, as a rule, clever at handicrafts, which 
they practise on the large estates as they wander through 
the country, but the blessings of increasing ^^free" compe- 
tition cut down their pay to a minimum, so that ih.ej often 
have to beg their way. Meantime their home goes to ruin, 
family ties are loosened, their plots of land are lef t untilled, 
their houses and implements are either seized for taxes or fall 
into the hands of the Jculacks (usurers). Numbers emigrate 
to Siberia, but this is hampered by unreasonable regulations, 
and many are sent back. Meanwhile the mortality continues 
increasing, being now generally 40-60 per 1,000. 

To describe in detail the whole system which has reduced 

* In 1858 the serfs of the landlords numbered 10,447,149 " male souls " ;, 
the "serfs of the State," 0,149,891 ; and the "serfs of the domains," 842,740 



Causes of the Famine. 



17 



the Eussian mushihs to hopeless miserj would be to write 
the internal history of Russia for the last half-centurj, but 
some of the principal points may be mentioned. Since the 
emancipation a new element has entered the life of the 
peasants — capitalism, with its invariable result of prole- 
tarianism. Before this the mushik was a chattel^ a part of 
his master's capital, to be maintained in as an ef&cient 
-condition as the rest of his ^oods. Afterwards he was forced 




A MCSIIIK FAMILY. 



iinto the arena as a nominally "free" competitor with his 
former masters in the struggle for existence. It did not 
meed the inspired insight of a prophet to foresee on which 
side victory would lie— on that of the capitalists on the one 
hand, armed with all the formidable weapons of modern 
finance, with absolute autocracy for their ally, or of the 
nmshiks on the other, with their ignorance, servility, and 
fatalism bred of centuries of serfdom, in which they were 



18 Causes of the Famine. 



treated and driven as cattle. We liave mentioned that the 
lands allotted to them were insufficient for the maintenance 
of life ; they lacked also the means and knowledge of the 
best modes of cultivating what they had. 

More must also be said of the systematic exploitation and 
oppression on the part of the estate owners and the authorities. 
The landlords, who had in former years been accustomed to^ 
live upon the industry of their slaves, had neither energy nor 
skill to cultivate their lands in a proper manner. Many of 
them rapidly ran through the " emancipation money " without 
applying it to the improvement of their estates. Swiftly on 
the abolition of serfdom followed the development of the rail- 
road and steamboat traffic, which raised the value of the forests 
and the produce of the land enormously. Immediately a 
devastation of forest land and impoverishment of the soil 
began. Immense tracts of timber were ruthlessly felled, to 
the great injury of the climate and soil, a.nd crop after crop of 
wheat was raised on the same fields without replacing by 
manure what was taken away, until the land was completely 
exhausted. At the same time that the conditions of the 
peasantry made them unable to participate in the increased 
value of agricultural produce, seeing that they were unable on 
their small plots to produce for the open market, rents were 
raised against them to a terrible extent. 

In fact, the entire system of finance and steam communica- 
tion was used as a gigantic apparatus for sucking the life-blood 
of the people. In the first place, the cost of construction was 
enormous. The difficulties presented by the physical features^ 
of the country were much more favourable in Russia than in 
Finland, for example. Yet the cost in Russia was three times 
as much as in Finland (sixty to one hundred thousand roubles 
per kilom. as against twenty thousand roubles per kilom). 
This difference went in no measure to the tvorhmg man, for labour 
was cheaper in Russia than in Finland. Again, though private 
railways have paid very well in Russia, the companies have 
succeeded through bribery in obtaining State subsidies, which 
in 1883 amounted to 781,888,800 roubles (a rouble is about 
2s. 3d.). The smallest amount of common-sense is sufficient 



Causes of the Famine. 19 



to see that all this is in the last result squeezed out of the 
workers. Besides this, railroad statistics show that the chief 
travellers are the peasants, who are forced to use the cars, not 
in profitable enterprise, but in their wanderings in search of 
the means of subsistence, out of which a heavj payment has 
to be made for railway tickets. About three-fourths of the 
peasants lead this nomadic kind of life. 

In the most intimate connection with the railroads are the 
banks, as is natural in a pre-eminently agricultural country. 
The money market and the railway traffic correspond in their 
rise and fall. It is from the great banking institutions that 
have risen in the last few decades that the money flood is 
periodically sent out to all the villages in the country, and 
returns thither, after having finished its work of nominally 
providing capital for agricultural operations, but really of 
fleecing the peasants. This is partly through a shameless 
system of usury by which the mushiks have to pay 200-300 per 
cent, interest, and partly by custom^ somewhat akin to what 
used to be forbidden in England as "^ forestalling " and 
'^regrating." Immediately after harvest agents appear on the 
scene, and take advantage of the peasant's need of ready cash 
wherewith to pay their taxes to buy up their produce at a 
shamefully low rate ; they must have money to pay their taxes 
or they will be flogged nearly to death by the police. Before 
the new year provisions run out, and the mushiks are face to 
face with the alternatives of buying back their produce at 
exorbitant prices, leaving their homes to look for work else- 
where, or begging. 

The moneylenders who thrive so well by draining the life- 
blood of the peasants are usually known as hulachs, literally 
fists. Some interesting figures have been collected by several 
Russian authorities as to the extent of these gentlemen's 
operations. It seems that the peasant, in his distress, applies 
to anyone who has money to help him, and among his creditors 
are found merchants, priests, deacons, nuns, village scribes, 
surgeons, noblemen, military men, teachers, and such peasants 
as have managed to get a footing above their fellows. But the 
professional money-lenders, or h.dacks, are his great resource. 



20 Causes of the Famine. 

We will give some examples of tlie mefcliods by whicli the 
peasants are fleeced. It is very usual when, e.g., a loan of 
twenty-five roubles is made, for one month, to require a repay- 
ment of fifty roubles ; should these not be paid on the exact 
day, a fine of five roubles a week is exacted. Among the cases 
investigated by our author, the annual rate of interest ran up 
to 120-140 per cent, in eighteen instances ; 88-90 per cent, in 
four others ; and to 60 per cent, in twenty-eight more. 

Frequently the lending is done on a kind of pawnbroking 
system ; clothes, household goods, agricultural implements, 
stock, and land being pledged as securities. In other cases, 
the borrowers pledge their labour, which is exacted at the 
busiest season of the year and valued often at half the market 
rate of wages. If, for example, a borrower has engaged to be 
responsible for the complete working of a piece of his creditor's 
land — that is, to plough, sow, and reap it, he gets no more 
than two or three roubles per hectare, while the customary 
price is seven or eight roubles. 

In the village of Tcherdakli, government Stavropol, the 
jjeasants borrowed 100 roubles from the diatchoJc or sacristan, for 
six months. As a "mark of gratitude," i.e., interest, he got from 
them the use of one and a-half hectares of good land for 
sixteen years. 

In the village district of Starososnimskaja, in the spring of 
1886, ninety peasants borrowed from a Jculach the sum of 1832-70 
roubles, and pledged themselves to repay it on August 1 
following, in 6,109 puds of rye, which the kulacJc valued at 
28-30 copecks a pud. In addition to this, they had also to 
pay 2,125 puds of hay, of which 1,000 puds were estimated 
at four copecks each, and the rest at five copecks. At the same 
time that these peasants were compelled to sell their grain at 
thirty copecks per pud, their creditors were selling to other hard- 
pressed peasants at seventy-five copecks to one rouble per pud. 

In 1885, the peasants in Malouza, district Novo Usensk, 
borrowed 300 roubles from a merchant for half a-year, and 
gave him in payment seven yoke of the best draught oxen, two 
large ploughs, two waggons, and two water casks ; these last 
are especially well made, and of considerable cost. 



Causes of the Famine. 



21 




A MUSIIIK ON THE TEAM!'. 



lu ten villages of the district Nikolajevsk, the annual rate 
of interest was found to be 250 per cent. ; in fifty-three others it 
was 90*8 per cent. 

During the bad seasons of 1888-9, most of the peasants in 



22 Causes op the Famine. 



tlie two districts just mentioned were compelled to sell all their 
cattle and sheep. There was nothing left to pawn, so the 
community began to borrow, on security of the communal land ; 
according to figures given in that year, 56 communer had 
already so pledged their land, and 107 were in debt to hulacks 
and merchants. 

In the district of Bugulminsk, the population is largely 
composed of Tatars, Mordvins, and other non-Russian peoples. 
The ktdacks have taken advantage of the greater ignorance of 
business matters to exact many times the amount really 
due. For example, a man borrowed 155 roubles for a year. 
He could not pay up promptly, so his creditor seized his barn, 
all his straw-thatched outhouses, one hectare of his crops, his 
gate, and a quantity of his fencing. 

Another, a Tatar, had borrowed 291*50 roubles, and when 
he could not pa}^, lost his dwelling-house, all his outhouses, his 
horse, his cupboard, his samovar, and his clock. 

Two peasants borrowed twenty-eight roubles, and had 
in return to reap rye for two days with two men, to plough 
the land with their own horses for fifteen days in the spring- 
sowing, and to plough the fallow land also for fifteen days. 

In another case three peasants borrowed twenty-seven 
roubles from a nun, from March 2 to October 11, ou condition 
that failure to pay, should forfeit all their property, 
beasts, implements, bees, and all their clothes, and that no 
question was to be raised before the authorities about it. 

These are simply a few instances taken here and there as 
examples of a general practice. I. M. Krasnopjorov gives 
the following figures as the result of his investigations. These 
are the latest we have been able to get, but by no means 
represent the state of things in quite recent years, when 
matters have become, necessarily, much worse. It is under- 
stood that these figures are in connection with this forced 
borrowing. 



The peasants lose hj forced sale of grain .. 
„ ,, „ purchase „ 

„ ,, piecework on the land 

,, ,, harvest work ... 

,, „ daily labour 



21 per cent. 

97 „ 

60 

50 

39 



Causes of the Famine. 23 



The economic position in the government of Samara in 1889 
was as follows : 

Peasant boldings under cultivation ... ... 48,468 

Communal land in pledge or leased out ... 453,917 hectares 

Arrears of taxes to Grovernment ... ... 5,808,459 roubles 

Debts to usurers 1,170,932 „ 

These facts and figures relate to times he/ore the famine. 
During my visit I made the acquaintance of a liberal man of 
great practical knowledge and high position, who described the 
•condition of things as follows : 

"^At present the peasants are slaves in the power of the 
kulacTcs, who have a kind of agreement or monopoly with the 
authorities for stripping the people to the bones, l^o one can 
have any transactions whatever with the peasants without the 
permission of the officials, and these take care that those so 
privileged shall be men of their own kidney. It is only in 
name that the peasants are free ; virtually they are in worse 
slavery than before the abolition, for it was to the interest of 
their owners to see that they did not starve to death. If the 
hulacks do '' good business," the officials get their share. If the 
peasants should steal a bundle of hay from the rich Jculacks, 
they get three years' imprisonment, with flogging besides. If 
these gentlemen or any of the officials rob a peasant of all he 
has no notice is taken of it." 

" But do not the I'ldachs and other capitalists show some 
sympathy with the people in such fearful distress as the 
present ? " 

"You can see yourself what kind of sj^mpathy it is," he 
said ; " that meal that you bought in Zemljanki, consisting of 
chaff, sawdust, and dirt, is a very good example of it ; this is 
what they sell or lend to the viushiks. I do not know of one 
solitary instance where a I'ulacJc has opened a soup-kitchen, let 
'US say, for the starving. I know of many where they have lent 
one rouble for the purchase of a coffin for a peasant's near 
relative, and demanded three in return ; or where they have 
provided the starving with a little food, on condition that they 
pledge theraselves to give their work in the busiest times for 
several years ! 



24 Causes of the Famine. 

*^ It is very common for a hulack to lend five roubles^ and 
receive back fifteen, and if it is not punctually repaid, to take alli 
the debtor's propert}^. If at any time a peasant should dare 
to bring him to account, the hulack, who is hand and glove^ 
with the magistrate, is acquitted, and the peasant in his turn i& 
hauled before the natclielnih, who is a little Csar in his volost, 
and convicted of some offence or other. And it is forbidden to^ 
say a word about the doings of these gentlemen in the papers. 

*' Both hdachs and officials are using the opportunity 
presented by the famine to complete the slavery of the 
mushiks. When the peasant cannot pay the Government taxes ^ 
which is an utter impossibility just now, they are sold up 
entirely, to their last cow, their sheep, their household stuff, 
and clothes. When there is nothing more to take, they are 
flogged and driven to borrow money from the hulacks to pay 
the taxes, pledging their labour for longer advance. The 
taxes frequently amount to more than 260 per cent, of the 
entire produce of their holdings, and form a powerful link in 
the chain that binds them to the triumphant car of capitalism 
and tyranny." 

I expressed my astonishment that the Government should 
attempt to collect the taxes when they must know that the 
people were dying of starvation. 

*^ It is not only so," he said, *' but six per cent, is added tO' 
arrears, which are often, by the way, the invention of the 
collectors. If threats are of no avail, birch rods are used tO' 
squeeze the last copeck out of them, though their wives and 
children are dying of hunger. In a village in Vistka, where 
people were famishing, the ' fatherly Government ' seized the 
last provisions of the destitute peasants, in the shape of 300' 
hens, and sold them to a rich kulacJc at about a penny apiece 
to pay off arrears of taxes. 

*^In another district, which had suffered not only from famine 
but also from one of the fires that are so frequent in Russia,, 
the inhabitants turned in their distress to their ' little father '" 
in St. Petersburg, praying, not for assistance, but simply that 
the taxes might not be exacted. In reply there came a collec- 
tor, who used the direst threats to them that he would exaclr 




THE WIDOW S LAST COW. 



Causes of the Famine. 27 

the taxes and tlie last copeck. The poor men sold all they had, 
in their fright, till everything was paid, except two villages, 
where there was nothing left to sell. But it was of no avail. 
More than fifty peasants were first flogged and then thrown 
into prison. This happened on June 1, 1891, and is reported 
in the Petersburg paper Nedjela for June 21. In the same 
number you will find that the district officials, when they heard 
of the deficit, imprisoned the village starosta also, because, in 
official language, ' he had been guilty of negligence.' " 

" How can the peasants put up with all this ? " I asked. 

" They are far from satisfied with it," he said. '' They make 
war in their fashion against the landowners and capitalists, 
steal from them all they can, and take every opportunity of de- 
frauding them. They are in a great majority, but have no 
combination. On the other hand, the landlords and capitalists 
are allied with the soldiery, police, and authorities in general. 
It is already a war between two hostile forces, whose interests 
are opposed to each other, and it is only a question of time 
for this conflict to assume a fierce aspect. Tolstoi and his 
friends, and the different sections of the Liberals throughout 
the country, are working for peaceful reform ; the revolution- 
ary party, on the contrary, desire an upheaval by any means 
whatsoever." 

I myself saw something of this pitiless exaction of taxes 
during my stay among the famine-stricken districts, notably 
in the case of a poor widow. One of my mushih acquaintances 
informed me that the ispravnih (chief of police) was coming to 
the village to collect arrears of taxes, and would seize the last 
oow of this poor woman. I put my Kodak under my cloak, and 
hurried to the place. The ispravnik had not yet come, but was 
expected every moment. The poor woman was standing with 
her arm thrown over the neck of the cow, which she had man- 
aged by great struggles to keep through the famine, and now it 
was to be taken from her " to support the State." I took a Kodak 
pictur<3 of her as she stood, but when the ispravnik approached 
I judged it prudent to take myself and photographic apparatus 
off, much as I should have liked a portrait of the official him- 
self. Afterwards I saw his man leading the cow away, and 



28 Causes op the Famine. 

Lad at least the satisfaction of assisting to console the widow 
for her loss. 

It must be clear to all^ from these facts, that the bad crops 
were not the real cause of the great famine, but simply the 
incident that made the chronic need apparent ; the destitution 
itself is due to the causes indicated. 

" Unless we are willing- to let dust be thrown in our eyes," 
says the prominent Russian Professor Issaje^, '^^we must admit 
that under other conditions of civilisation and development, with 
a wiser use of our natural resources, we should not have 
left so wide a breach for the devastating forces of nature, such 
as the direction of the winds, the scanty rainfall, and the 
consequent drought." 



CHAPTER III. 

TOLSTOI ON THE FAMINE. 

Tolstoi's Warnings to the Grovei-nment — Their Reception — Government 
Measures and Tolstoi's Criticisms — The True Cause of the Distress — 
Russian Society — Thti True Remedy. 

Count Tolstoi liad for some time foreseen that such, a fam.ine 
must inevitably come, and had warned the authorities of it. 
He had also, long before they had an}^ correct ideas of the 
extent and nature of the distress, or had taken any measures to 
obviate it, laid before them such proposals as would, if adopted, 
have lessened its terrible ravages to a considerable extent at 
least. Such were the establishment of public works on a large 
scale to give remunerative employment to the people ; the 
regulation of the prices of provisions by a fixed standard, and 
forbidding the hoarding of jlour, &c., while the people were 
starving; the opening of free eating-houses in adequate num- 
bers and capacity in the famine-stricken villages ; the organisa- 
tion of all available voluntary forces in rational relief work, 
&c. But the '^powers that be" in St. Petersburg not only 
refused to listen to his warnings or to take his advice, but 
devised a fiendish policy of persecution against the noblest 
man their land contained. His warnings were treated as 
revolutionary threats, and made the basis of a report of a 
^'widespread Nihilistic conspiracy." He had offered the 
Russian papers an article suggesting the best modes of meeting 
the distress ; they refused it. According to his usual custom, 
he allowed it to be published by the press of other countries. 
In England The Daily Chronicle gave an English translation, in 
which the meaning of one sentence was not made clear. 
Tolstoi had said that the peasants must not only be fed, but 
roused from their hopeless apathy and lifted up from their 



30 Tolstoi on the Famine. 



deep debasement. On this sentence The Moscow Gazette, the 
principal organ of fanatical and autocratic "^obscuration," 
fastened, making the meaning to appear as "llie peasants 
must be roused against the authorities.'' Prince Stcherbatoff, 
father-in-law of a former editor of The Moscow Gazette, wrote 
a bitter article, which that paper published, the purport of 
which was that "this evil " (i.e., Tolstoi and his work) " must 
be exterminated." This led to other attacks in the press, and 
if Countess Tolstoi had not journeyed to St. Petersburg and 
obtained a private audience with the Tsar, matters would pro- 
bably have been pushed to extremities. To one holding- 
Tolstoi's faith, and it is faith,, not mere opinion or sentiment, 
there could hardly be a more cruel mode of attack. Mam- 
letters came to him from all quarters after the article appeared 
in The Moscoiv Gazette, from university men down to simple 
peasants who could scarcely frame a legible letter, asking " Is 
it possible that our dear Count, who has taught us by word and 
deed to follow the teaching and example of Christ in not 
resisting evil, but blessing those that curse us, and doing good 
unto those that hate us, has fallen so far, as The Moscour 
Gazette says, as to proclaim the doctrines of hate and bloody 
revolt, instead of the Gospel of love, self-sacrifice, and patient 
endurance ? " But the Count paid no attention to these attacks, 
and during my stay with the family I never heard from him or 
any of its members a word about the matter, or even the 
names of his persecutors. 

For some time the local authorities and the Government 
disputed as to the very existence of the famine, the former 
asserting and the latter denying it, until the matter was placed 
beyond denial by authentic accounts of numerous deaths from 
starvation in different provinces. In England, however, we 
can hardly throw stones at the Russian Government, since we 
have had our own authorities gravely asking whether there 
were actually men who had real difficulty in finding work, and 
regarding the negative " information " of their own red-tape 
bound bureaus as more reliable than the statements of those 
who passed their lives among the workers and knew their cir- 
cumstances intimately. 



Tolstoi o?r the Famine. ol 

When the terrible character of the evil could no longer be 
disputed, the Government began to take steps for its relief. 
Thej issued circulars to all the village authorities, who were to 
fill in the required details and return them to headquarters. 
From this information they expected to know who needed help, 
and to distribute the relief accordingly. 

Count Tolstoi, in criticism of these measures, pointed out 
that the failure on the part of the Government to understand the 
true causes of the distress made them unable to devise effective 
means of relieving it. Bad crops were not the cause, which 
lay deeper than the palliatives proposed by the Government 
could reach. 

"The activity of the Government, having for its outward 
object the feeding and preservation of the well-being of forty 
millions of men, is met (as we have seen) by insurmountable 
obstacles. 

'^Eirst. It is impossible to determine the degree of the 
people's need, since they may, in order to support themselves, 
show either a maximum of energy or complete apathy. 

" Second. Even were this determination possible, the amount 
of bread and money required for this purpose (at least one 
thousand millions of roubles) is so great that there is no hope 
of acquiring it. 

"Third. Granting the possession of this money, the gratuitous 
distribution of bread and money among the people would only 
weaken its energy and activit}^, which, more than anything 
else, is at this difficult time necessary, to maintain its well- 
being. 

" Fourth. Allowing the distribution to be so made as not to 
weaken the activity of the people, there is no possibility of 
distributing the relief justly, and in consequence those who 
are not needy will get the share of the really poor, the 
majority of whom will remain all the while without help, and 
perish." 

In another of his articles on the famine, which were not 
allowed to be published in Eussia, he says : " It is in this vicious 
circle that the Government is moving, and there is no getting 
out of this circulns vitiosus. For the task that the Adminis- 



32 Tolstoi on the Fasiine. 

tration and the municipalities have set themselves is nothing less 
than to feed the people. To feed the people ! Who is it, then, that 
has undertaken to feed the people ? It is we, the officials, who 
have taken upon ourselves to feed those who are always 
feeding- and always have fed us. A suckling babe wants to 
feed its nurse^ a parasite proposes to feed the plant that 
nourishes it ! We^ the governing classes, who do not work 
and live upon what other people produce ; we, who cannot take 
one step without them, we are now going to feed them ! The 
very idea has something grotesque in it. Not to speak of all 
other wealth, we may say that the bread is directly produced 
by the people themselves. All the bread existing is sown, 
raised, havested, threshed, and distributed by the people. How 
is it, then, that this bread is not now in the hands of the 
people, but in ours, a,nd that we are obliged, by a peculiar and 
artificial process, to return it to them, calculating so and so 
much for each individual ? It is evident that we have taken it 
without paying for it, and have taken too much, so that we 
must now return it; but this restitution presents many 
difficulties. What then must we do ? I believe we must begin 
by not taking what does not belong to us. 

"^ Some children had a horse given them, a real live horse, and 
they went out for a drive. They went on driving, driving, 
always driving, up hill and down dale. The horse was all in a 
perspiration ; it lost its breath, but always went on obediently . 
All the while the children shouted and cheered, boasted to 
each other as to who best knew how to drive, and always 
urged the horse to gallop. It seemed to them, as it always 
does, that when the horse galloped, they galloped, and they 
were proud of this gallop. So they amused themselves without 
thinking of the horse, forgetting that it lived and suffered. 
When they saw that it slackened its speed, they raised the 
whip, struck it, and shouted still more. But all things have 
an end, and the good horse's strength was exhausted. In spite 
of the whip, it slackened its speed. Only then did the children 
recollect that the horse was a living creature ; that it is usual 
to give horses food and drink. But they would not stop, and 
tried to find a way of feeding the horse while running. One of 



Tolstoi on the Famine. 33^ 

them took a handful of hay from under the seat of the 
carriage, jumped down, and ran alongside of the horse, holding 
out the hay to it. But this was uncomfortable. He jumped 
back into the carriage, and the children devised other means. 
They took a long stick, fastened the hay to one end, and, 
sitting in the carriage, offered the hay to the horse. They 
thought of numberless ways, except what ought, above all, to 
have entered their minds : step out of the carriage, wait, and,, 
if they really pitied the horse, unharness it. 

'^^Do not the well-to-do classes, in their relation to the 
labourers, in all times and in all countries, act just as those 
children in urging on the horse which carried them ? Are not 
the governing classes doing the very thing that these children 
did, in trying to feed the horse without stepping out of the 
carriage, when they are trying, now that it has spent its 
strength and must refuse to carry them further, to find means 
of saving the people, of feeding it without changing their 
relation to the people? They devise all kinds of means 
except the one that appeals to the mind and heart : cease to 
gallop, and step down from the horse, which they pity. 

" The people are suffering from hunger, and we, the governing^ 
classes, are very anxious, and desire to help them. For this 
purpose we form committees, hold meetings, collect money, 
buy flour and bread, and distribute it among the people. But 
why do the people hunger ? Is it possible that this should 
be so hard to understand? Is it absolutely necessary to 
calumniate them, as some arrogantly do, saying that the 
people are poor because they are lazy and drunk ? Or must 
we deceive ourselves by saying that the people are poor only 
because they have not assimilated our civilisation, but that 
from to-morrow we will set ourselves to the task of initiating- 
them into all our science, hiding nothing from them, so that 
then they will doubtless cease to be poor ? Therefore we do 
not need to be ashamed of living at their expense, because it 
is simply for their own good ! 

" Must we hunt for the sun by candle-light, when everything 
is so clear and simple, especially clear and simple to the people 
at whose expense we live and eat ? It may be allowable for 

3 



S4 Tolstoi on the Famine. 

children to imagine that it is not the horse that carries them, but 
that it is thej themselves who are going along ; but we grown- 
up folk can very well understand how the famine has come 
upon the people. The people hunger because we consume too 
much. To us Russians this fact ought to be all the clearer. 
Industrial and commercial nations, like the English, who live 
upon their Colonies, may yet be unable to see this clearly. . . . 
But as regards ourselves, our connection with the people is so 
immediate, so evident, it is so clear that our wealth is produced 
by their misery, or their misery by our wealth, that it is impos- 
sible for us not to see why the people are suffering from 
hunger. Is it possible that the people, in such circumstances, 
in which they are born, i.e., with these taxes, this insufficiency 
of land, this neglected condition and this savagery, having to 
perform this immense amount of labour, the fruits of which 
we enjoy in the shape of comforts and amusements — is it pos- 
sible, I say, that these people can escape hunger ? 

"All these palaces, these theatres, these museums in the 
capitals, the cities, and small centres of population are produced 
by the people, who suffer and continue to produce all these 
things that are useless to themselves simply because they get 
their food thereby. That is, through this forced labour, they 
save themselves from the famine that is always hanging over 
their heads. Such is their constant position. We continually 
keep the people in a situation in which they never can keep 
themselves from hunger. This is our method of forcing them 
to work for us. This year the strain has been too great ; the 
bad harvest has shown us that the string has been pulled too 
tightly. But what has happened is nothing extraordinary or 
unexpected, and we ought to understand why the people are 
starving. Knowing the cause, it is very easy to find the cure. 
The principal means of cure is not eating up their portion. 

" This concern of society for the relief of the distressed people 
is like that of the founders of the Eed Cross during war. 
Then the energy of some is devoted to massacre ; this massacre 
is considered as the normal condition. On the other hand, a 
new activity is brought into being, of a contrary tendency, 
having for its aim the healing of those who suffer from the 



Tolstoi on the Famine. 35 

massacre. All this is excellent, so long as the war, the ex- 
haustion and oppression of the people are considered as 
normal ; but when we pretend to pity the men killed in the 
war and the sufferers from the famine, would it not be simpler 
3iot to kill, and, consequently, not to invent the means of heal- 
ing? not to rob the people of their substance, and all the 
time we are so doing pretend to be concerned about their wel- 
fare ? For the last thirty years it has become almost fashionable 
to profess a love for the people — for *our younger brother,' as 
they say. Our society persuades itself and others that they are 
greatly concerned about the people's condition, and express their 
concern in mutual reproaches for the lack of sympathy with 
* the younger brother.' ' For thirteen years I have reproached 
others for their lack of love for the people; what further proof 
is needed of my own love for them ? ' All this is a lie. Love 
of the people does not and cannot exist in our society. 

" Between a member of our leisured classes — a gentleman 
dressed in a starched shirt, an official, a landlord, a merchant, an 
officer, a scientist, an artist, on the one hand, and a peasant on 
the other, there is only one link; the one that makes all peasants 
— working-men in general, 'hands,' as the English call them — 
necessary to work for us. We cannot hide what we all know. 

''All the interests of each one of us — of science, of our 
occupation, of our artistic interests, of our family life — are 
such that we have nothing in common with the life of the 
j)eople. The people do not understand the 'gentlemen,' and 
the latter, in spite of their belief to the contrary, neither know 
nor understand the life of the people. 

"Voltaire said that if people in Paris could kill a mandarin in 
•China by simply pressing a button, very few Parisians would 
-deprive themselves of this amusement. 

" Not to speak of the generations of workers who perish in the 
idiotic, painful, and demoralising work of the factories for the 
pleasure of the rich, the entire agricultural population, or at 
least an enormous proportion of it, is forced through insuffi- 
ciency of land for their maintenance to such a fearfully intense 
work that it destroys their physical and moral powers, simply for 
the purpose of giving to their masters the possibility of increas- 



36 Tolstoi on the Famine. 

ing their luxury. It is with, the same object that merchants", 
compel the whole population to drink, and thus exploit it. 
The people degenerate, the children die prematurely, and all 
in order that the rich, the " gentlemen," the merchants, may 
be able to live to themselves with their palaces, their dinners^ 
their concerts, their horses, their carriages, their flirtations, &c. 

'' Why deceive ourselves ? We have no need of the people 
except as an instrument, and our interests (by whatever argu- 
ment to the contrary we comfort ourselves) are always 
diametrically opposed to the interests of the people. ^ The 
more they give me as salary or as pension, i.e., the more they 
take from the people, the better for me,' says the official.. 
'The more the people have to pay for bread and other 
necessary products, i.e., the worse off the people are, the better 
for me,' says the landlord. ' The longer the war lasts the 
more I shall make,' says the manufacturer. ^The less paid 
for wages, i.e., the poorer the people are, the better it will be 
for us,' say all the upper classes. What sympathy can we 
have, then, for the people ? Between us and them there is no 
link but animosity — the link between the master and the slave. 
The better off I am, the worse for the people, and vice versa. 

"All life in Russia, all that is past, and is passing at present,, 
confirms what I say. At this moment, when, as they say, 
people are dying of hunger, have the landlords, have th& 
merchants, or the rich folk in general, modified their lives ? 
Have they ceased to exact from the people, f o satisfy their own 
caprices, a work that is frequently false ? Have the rich given 
up ornamenting their palaces, eating luxurious dinners, riding 
their thoroughbreds, following the hounds, dressing themselves 
in the height of fashion ? Do not the rich at this very time 
hold stores of seed and flour, expecting a still greater rise in 
the price ? Are not manufacturers depressing the wages of 
their workers ? Are not officials receiving higher salaries ? Do 
not all the educated classes continue to live in the cities — for 
some purpose they consider very elevated — and to eat in them 
the means of living which are imported there, for lack of which 
people are dying? 

"It is under these circumstances that we all at once begin to 



Tolstoi on the Famine. 37 

.assure ourselves and others that we pity the people ver j greatly, 
and that we want to help them out of their misery, which we 
■ourselves have brought upon them, a misery which is necessary 
to us. 

'' This is why those people's efforts are in vain, who with 
■unchanged lives desire to come to the people's aid by distri- 
•buting the wealth they have first taken from them. 

'' If a man of the leisured classes really wants, not to help, 
but to serve his people, the first thing he ought to do is to 
'Understand clearly his relations to them. When nothing is 
undertaken the lies, though they remain lies, are not very 
hurtful. But when, as now, one wants to serve the people, the 
first thing to be done is to reject the lies and get to under- 
stand our relations to them. And when these are clearly 
•seen, i.e., the fact that the people give us the means of life, 
that their poverty is caused by our riches, that their hunger 
• comes from the satisfaction of our appetites, we can begin to 
serve in no other way than by ceasing to do what ruins them. 

"M.j thought is this : it is love only that can save men from 
.all miseries and calamities, including famine. But this love 
must not be limited to words, it must be expressed in actions. 
And these deeds of love consist in giving one's morsel to those 
'that hunger, as not only Christ but also John the Baptist has 
said, i.e., to make a sacrifice. Therefore, I think that the very 
best thing to be done by those who understand the need of 
changing their mode of life, is to go this very year and live 
^among the starving peasants and spend a certain time with 
them. 

" I do not say that all who wish to help the mushiks ought 
absolutely to take up their abode in a cold hut, dwell among 
vvermin, live on ^ lebeda ' (a kind of weed) , and die in two 
■months or a fortnight ; I do not say that whoever does not do 
lihis, does nothing useful. Bat I say that to act exactly thus, 
to live among them and die in two months or two weeks, 
would be very good, very beautiful, just as beautiful as to carry 
pardon and die among the lepers, as Father Damien did. But 
I do not say that every one can or ought to do this, and that 



38 Tolstoi on the Famine. 

all else is nothing. I saj that the more a man's actions 
approach this, the more profitable will thej be to himself and 
others, and that whoever approaches the ideal, however little, 
will do good. There are two extremes ; on the one hand to 
give one's life for our fellows ; on the other, to live an entirely 
unchanged life. Between these two extremes all men are to be 
found ; some who act as Christ's disciples have left all to follow 
Him; others are like the rich young ruler, who turned and 
went away when he heard the Master speak of a changed life. 
Between this we find the different Zaccheuses, who change, but 
only partially. But to become like these last we must always 
aim at approaching the first. 

^^ All who understand that the way to aid the starving peasants 
is by breaking down the barriers that separate us from them,, 
and on this account change their mode of life, necessarily rank 
themselves somewhere between these limits according to their 
physical and moral powers. Some, as soon as they come into 
the country, will eat and sleep with the sufferers ; others will 
live apart, but establish eating rooms and work there ; a third 
set will help distribute the provisions and flour ; a fourth will 
give money ; a fifth — I can imagine such persons — will live in a 
famine-stricken village and do nothing but spend their income 
and help the casual starvelings that come in their way. 

'^ I do not know, and I do not wish to say, if the people, the 
entire people, shall have enough to feed upon. I cannot know 
this, for independently of the famine, an epidemic may break out 
to-morrow, or an invasion cause the death of the people ; or to- 
morrow a nutritious substance may be invented capable of 
feeding the whole world ; or, simplest of all, I may die myself 
to-morrow, without having found out if the people have had 
enough food or not. The important thing is that I have not 
been charged with the task of feeding forty millions of people 
in a certain territory, and that I cannot attain this outward 
object, viz., to feed and save from calamity a fixed number of 
men, but that I ought to think of saving my soul, and bring my 
life as near my conscience as possible. I cannot do more than 
one thing : to use my powers as long as I live for the service- 
of my brothers, regarding all without exception as my brothers.. 



Tolstoi on the Famine. 39 

" Strange to say, as soon as we turn from the task of solving- 
questions of the outward life, as soon as we forget the forty 
millions, the price of bread in America, &c., in order to consider 
the problem that is true and proper to man, the question of the 
inner life, all the preceding matters are solved in the best 
manner. All the starving millions would thus be fed in a satis- 
factory way. On the other hand, the activity of the Govern- 
ment, having only an external object, the feeding of forty 
millions, is met, as we have seen, by insurmountable obstacles. 

*' No other activity can avoid these impediments in the way of 
Government action . . . and attain to great results that 
are inaccessible to Government action, than that which has an 
inward object — the salvation of the soul — and which always 
consists of sacrifice. It is this that, in the face of 
starvation, impels a peasant woman in a famine-stricken 
village, when she hears beneath her window the words " For 
Christ's sake" (commonly used by beggars), to hesitate before 
causing discontent, to take her single loaf of bread, as I have 
seen more than once, put it on the board, cut off a piece a^ large 
as the palm of her hand, and give it, making the sign of the 
cross at the time. 

*'For this inward activity, the first obstacle — the impossibility 
of determining the degree of the need — does not exist. The 
orphans of heaven ask for alms; the woman knows they have 
no resources and gives. What is impossible to an official, who 
is concerned with lists and documents, is easy to those who live 
among the needy and have in view only a small number whom 
they can help. 

^' The second obstacle — the enormous number of the poor — 
exists as little as the first. There are always poor people, and 
the whole question is, what portion of my powers can I 
devote to them 9 The woman who gives alms does not need to 
calculate how many millions of poor there are in Russia, what 
is the price of American flour, &c. There is a single question 
for her : how to use her knife on the loaf so as to cut off a 
smaller or larger slice. Small or big, she gives it, knowing that 
if all helped according to their ability every one would have a 
piece of bread, no matter how great the number of the poor. 



40 Tolstoi on the Famine. 

" The third obstacle exists still less for the peasant woman. 
She does not fear that the slice of bread given to the orphans of 
heaven may weaken their energy and make them used to 
begging, for she knows that these children understand very well 
what that slice of bread that she cuts for them costs her — they 
see that she gives her last, or almost her last bread. 

" Neither does the fourth obstacle exist. The peasant woman 
is not concerned as to whether she really must give to those 
that now stand at her window, or if there are others in still 
greater need, to whom she should give this slice. She pities 
the children of heaven, and gives to them, knowing that if all did 
the same there would be none dying of hunger, either now in 
Russia, or anywhere at any time. 

^'^It is this kind of activity, having a moral object, that has 
always saved, and always will save, men. And it is this that 
ought to be adopted by those who want at this painful time to 
serve others. 

'^ It saves people, because it is that smallest of seeds thai; pro- 
duces the largest tree. One, two, or a dozen men living in the 
country, and helping according to their power, can do very little. 
But this activity is contagious ; it is because of this power of 
communicating itself to others that an activity inspired by love 
is so important. An outward activity, expressing itself in 
gratuitous distribution of bread and money, according to 
official lists, only engenders bad feeling, greed, jealousy, hypo- 
crisy, untruthfulness ; whereas a personal activity of love 
evokes, on the contrary, the noblest sentiments — love and will- 
ingness to make sacrifices. . . . Herein lies the force of the 
activity inspired by love, that it is contagious, and therefore 
its influence is limitless. As one candle lights another and 
thousands of candles are thus set burning, so one heart kindles 
another, and a thousand hearts are set burning. Millions of 
roubles of the wealthy will achieve less than will a small 
abatement of greed and a little increase of love in the great 
mass of men. Love has only to increase, and the same miracle 
will take place that was accomplished in the distribution of the 
five loaves ; all will be able to satisfy their hunger, and there 
will still be food to spare." 




TOLSTOI TAKING NOTES. 

CHAPTER IV. 

EELIEF WOEK IN EJASAN. 

•Countess Tolstoi's Letter — General Organisation — An Illustration of the 
Position — Defects of Government Relief— Tolstoi's Methods — Visit to a 
Famine-Stricken Village — Countess Maria Tolstoi and Her Father's 
Work — "Traits of Civilisation " — Destitution, Disease, and Death — Miss 
Kuzminsky and the mir — More Starving Villages — Tolstoi's DifBculties — 
Some of His Helpers. 

"Deak. Sir, — It is so difficult to give advice in sucli a matter as 
beneficence. Any lielp in sucli a distress is welcome, and an 
organisation of relief for the f amine-stric ken in Eussia could 



42 Eelief Work iisr Ejasan. 

do very much good. But organisations (private) are not per- 
mitted in Eussia ; every one does for the help of the people 
what he can. 

'^ If any one would like to send considerable sums of monej^, 
it could be sent either to the committee of the Grand Duke 
Tsarevitch in St. Petersburg, or to the committee of the Grand 
Duchess Elizabeth in Moscow ; or if you prefer to direct money 
in private disposition, my husband and all my family would do 
our best to spend it as usefully to the profit of the national 
distress as possible. 

" I think that if you would come to Eussia yourself, you 
could help very much, as personal help is wanted nearly as 
much as money help. But the life in those famine-stricken 
villages is very hard ; one must bear very much inconvenience ; 
and if you have never been in Eussia and have no idea what a 
Eussian village is, you will not endure life in it. 

'' The famine is dreadful ! Though the Government is trying 
to do as much as possible, private help is very important. The 
horses are dying for want of food, the cows and all the cattle 
are either killed by the peasants, or are falling dead from 
starvation. A very small part of them will be left. 

" We were thinking, if we were to receive considerable sums 
of money, of buying horses when spring comes in the South of 
Eussia, so as to give our peasants the possibility of working. 
Our peasants can do nothing without cattle. But those are 
only plans. At present we have so much to do to keep the 
people alive. How dreadfully sad it is to see our poor suffering 
peasants so helpless and looking for help, so full of hope when 
they meet any one who shows them pity and interest ! If you 
try, Sir, to do anything God will bless you. — Yours very truly, 

" Countess S. Tolstoi. 

"January 20th (Old Style), 1892." 

It was this letter, in answer to one of mine, that had brought 
me over to Eussia, with contributions from English and 
American friends, to help in what small way was possible the 
Tolstoi family in their energetic and self-denying efforts among 
the starving mushiks. In the following pages I give some 



Eelief Work in Ejasan. 43' 

account of what I saw, from notes jotted down at the time in 
my diarv. But a few words of introduction are needful to 
explain something of the system on which the Count and his 
helpers proceeded. 

I met the Countess Tolstoi at their house in Moscow on my 
journey through. Here she carried on the correspondence 
concerning the relief work, while her husband held his head- 
quarters at Bjasan, and the young Count Lyeff Lvovitch made 
Samara his centre of active operations. Countess Sophia 
Andreevna Tolstoi is tall and stately-looking, and retains the 
freshness and elasticity of her youth to a remarkable degree. 
Her power of work is simply wonderful. I saw a great pile of 
letters and telegrams she had received that day from all parts. 
of the world. Some related to the department of relief work 
under her own care, which may be called the wholesale 
department; she was responsible for buying the immense 
quantities of different food-stuffs required, and despatching 
them to Ejasan and Samara. Others consisted of appeals for 
help from starving districts, but most were concerned with the 
financial part of the work, contributions from friends in 
different countries, inquiries, &c. In all this she was without 
the help of any secretary. " It has grown to be a habit with 
me," she said, "to answer all letters myself. Otherwise I 
cannot feel perfectly satisfied." 

As regards the relief work proper, carried on by the Count 
and his son, it must not be imagined from what has previously 
been quoted from his criticisms of official methods, that 
Tolstoi himself neglected organisation or method, depending 
entirely on individual impulse. He recognised the futility of 
it all as a cure, but for the present purpose of helping the 
starving peasants in their terrible emergency he was quite 
alive to the importance of so ordering the work as to be most 
efficient. His view of the case was well put in the conversa- 
tion I had with him on the matter. He said : "I will use an 
illustration to give you an idea of the state of things. 
Suppose this little round table placed in a distillery and 
covered with bottles of different sizes, all of which are filled 
with spirits. Beneath the table is a fierce heat that causes 



44 Relief Woek in Ejasan. 

the contents of the bottles to evaporate, after which, in the 
■cold air above, it is condensed and discharged in two streams, 
one going into the great reservoir of the capitalists, the other 
into that of the Government. Now, since all these bottles 
have been emptied, and are, therefore, unable to produce any 
more, they must, of course, be filled again to some extent in 
one way or another. A large pail is therefore taken, dipped 
into the great reservoir, and its contents poured over the 
bottles on the table, but the greater part falls outside the 
bottles. We are now trying to put funnels into the bottles to 
^void this running outside." 

A more intimate acquaintance with Government methods 
helped me to understand the significance of this figure. Flour 
was distributed monthl}^, according to prescribed rules. In 
many cases the drinking habits of the miserable mushiks led 
them to sell it at once for vodka, and in some it was at once 
seized by pitiless creditors. Supposing that neither of these 
calamities occurred, it lasted only for fifteen or twenty days, 
leaving the poor family to starve until the next distribution. 
Hence the sickness and death-rate went up with a bound in 
the latter part of each month. Much sickness was also caused 
by the lack of fuel among the mushiks, who were thus forced 
to eat the food raw, having no means of cooking it. There is 
no wood in this part, and straw is the fuel used, which of 
course had suffered the fate of the crops generally. 

Still worse was the system of selection employed by the 
Government. No help was given to " labourers " ; i.e., 
those able to work, or to those possessing horses and 
cattle. It was entirely left out of consideration that there 
was no work for these unfortunate people to do, and no food 
for their cattle. Again, there was little hope for the " black 
sheep," that is, the sectarians, the Stundists, persons of non- 
Russian extraction, and all who were not 'personce gratce to the 
^' powers that be " or their representatives. Further, expenses 
were shamefully heavy, and large quantities of flour were 
stolen, adulterated with sand, chaff, &c., or allowed to spoil. 
I noted more than one case of this kind that came under my 
own observation. 



EEiiiEF Work in Ejasan. 



45 



Tolstoi's " putting in funnels " meant, then, the relief of 
those overlooked by the officials, and whatever might be done 
to remedy these defects. It was not easy. Even the discovery 
of the most needy was far from being as simple as it looked. 
To our notions, all the mushiks would have qualified en masse 
under that heading, but to the Russian workers there were 
grades, " and in the lowest depths a lower deep " ! Another 
obvious idea was to apply to the starosta (head man of the 




STAROSTS. 



MABIA TOLSTOI. MISS KUZMINSKY. 

CONSULTING THE STAEOSTS. 



village), or to the pope, but alas ! the starosta is not always 
one in whom there is no guile, nor is the pope always a 
saint. The only reliable method was for the Count and 
his assistants to go into the villages themselves, and compile 
from individual inquiries the lists of names and details 
needed for wise and efficient aid. Then these were verified 
by the calling together of the entire village community, or 
mir, when the lists were gone through and discussion held 



46 Relief Wokk in Ejasan. 

as to tlie best means of relieving the most distressed. It is pro- 
bable tbat these tables were the most exact statistics in Russia. 

The principal means of relief was by eating-rooms, where 
two meals a-day were served free to the most needy. Where 
the villagers had a supply of flour, warm food only was 
served ; in other places warm food and bread. Special rooms 
were opened later for the children. 

Another branch was the supply of fuel ; about four hundred 
cords of wood were distributed during the winter, either free 
or in return for work done. Then the horses were cared for as 
much as possible ; large numbers were sent to other parts 
where fodder could be got, and three hundred were placed in a 
large stable built for the purpose. 

Work materials in the shape of flax and bast were supplied to 
the musMJcs, that they might both work at their own clothing 
and make shoes, which the Count bought at full price, for 
distribution among the poorest. 

Then there was the provision of seed and replacement of 
stock, with a view to prevent, as far as possible, a repetition of 
the famine. This was usually done on condition of a moderate 
return being made after the following harvest, and the income 
from this source was destined towards establishing homes for 
destitute children. 

The work in Samara was on the same model. I can now 
proceed to give incidents taken from the notes in my diary. 

Before 6 a.m. the starving mushihs began to gather at the 
headquarters. Half-an-hour later they filled both the yard 
and the ante-room, where they stood with heads uncovered, 
silently waiting their turn to see the Count. Tolstoi himself, 
his daughter Maria, her cousin Miss Kuzminsky, and two others 
were busy writing down the names of the applicants or distri- 
buting relief. The ravages of the famine among the members 
of the evil-smelling, motley crowd were evident in the haggard 
looks of some and the swollen faces of others. 

The young Countess had been up very early in the morning 
to attend to household matters before joining in the relief work, 
which lasted until the time came for breakfast, and after that 
for visiting the villages. Breakfast (at 9 o'clock) consisted of 



Relief Work in Ejasan. 47 

kasha (a kind of porridge), bread-and-butter, potatoes and 
other vegetables, tea and coffee, tbe young Countess Maria 
acting as liostess. Her elder sister, Tatiana, had also been at 
headquarters, but had had to return home on account of failing 
health. Maria Lvovna or " Masha," as the Count calls her, is 
a devoted follower of her father. 

It had been arranged that I should accompany the Countess 
Maria on her round through the villages. Dressed in a 
polashubok (see illustration), felt boots, and a cap of Siberian 
lambskin, she opened the door of my room and called out 
^' Ready." In my Lapponian dress I came out and took my 
place at her side in a sani, a primitive and unpainted sleigh, 
drawn by a well-fed, little black horse. Just as we were starting, 
I found that I had forgotten my gloves. " Here, take mine," 
said the Count, who stood by the side of the sleigh. Off we 
went at whirling speed, the Countess holding the reins herself. 
I believe that Russian ladies beat those of all other countries, 
even in America, in horsemanship. I have often seen them 
driving a troika, or sleigh, with three horses abreast. Certainly 
the Countess knew how to drive. In a few minutes we had 
passed the Don and were out on the desolate plains. The air 
was keen and biting, and a blinding snowstorm swept over the 
steppes ; the road was destitute of the customary marks, and 
we soon lost our way. After driving for some time with the 
snow whirling about us so that we could not see the length of 
the horse, she drew rein and said, ^' I think we must turn back 
home. Soon we shall see nothing." " Do you know the direc- 
tion of the village to which we are going? " I asked. " Yes." 
"Then let us try to get there." ''All right. Get up, Malchik!" 
(Little Boy) . Off we sped westward along an ice-covered ridge, 
and after a time found the road again. 

The Countess told me that she had worked for a number of 
years among the peasants trying to help them. She had had 
a school for peasant children on their estate, but as she did 
not teach them to cross themselves nor to worship the 
pictures of the saints, the priests had her school closed. Then 
she invited the children to her house to tea, and continued to 
teach them over the tea-table. 



Relief Wokk in Ejasan. 



Talking about their home and the large number of strangers 
coming to see her celebrated father — often, no doubt, out of 
mere curiosity — I remarked that he was said to denj the 
immortality of man. " This," I said, " I have never been able 
to understand, as being incompatible with his view of life and 
way of living." 




WAITING FOR HELP. 



" My father deny the immortality of man ! " she exclaimed. 
^'^ You should have heard him recently in a circle of friends. 
As our shadowy dreams, he said, are to our present life, so 
this shadowy life is to our future existence." Speaking of 
God she said, " They try to define what God is and what He 
is not, but whatever beautiful and grand words they use, I say 



Relief Work in Rjasan. 



49 



that He is infinitely more than that. I like best of all to call Him 
Father. Is it not beautiful to think that the highest good is 
•our Father ? " 

Our conversation turned to the literary works of the Count, 




COUNTESS MARIA TOLSTOI. 



and she told me how he came to write his satirical i^lay, " The 
Fruits of Civilisation." 

"It was one winter night, and we had just finished our work 
for the day. ^ Let us have some fun,' said my sister Tanja. 
■^Yes, let us improvise a spiritualistic seance.' Father joined 
ill, and wrote down a sketch of the play to be improvised; 

4 



50 Relief Work in Ejasan. 

this he afterwards finished, and it was published under the 
title of ' The Fruits of Civilisation.' " 

The plaj was performed three times ; once was in Yasnaja 
Poljana, and a second time in the town of Tula, the Count's 
eldest daughter, Tatiana, playing the part of Tanja (the 
heroine being named after her). The third time it was plaj^ed 
bj a company of aristocratic amateurs at Tarskoje Selo, the 
summer residence of the Tsar, in the presence of sixteen 
grand dukes and duchesses, and other high dignitaries, 
numbering about 250 persons — of course, "for a benevolent 
purpose." It was a great success. The high-born audience- 
laughed, and applauded the biting satire, the point of which 
was directed against their own society ! What a grotesque 
scene ! On the Emperor's private stage, the victory of the 
people is represented by members of the highest aristocracy ! 
But who in these circles thinks of this bitter self -mockery ?' 
Pungent means are required to amuse persons enervated by 
idleness, epicurism, and licentiousness — so they laugh at the 
amusing surface, without being touched by the author's deep 
pain and sympathy with the oppressed, that throbs through the 
whole piece. 

By this time w^e saw through the storm a long row of what 
looked like snow-covered mounds. It was the village of Pinki, 
Approaching nearer, we found that the mounds were peasants' 
huts, half buried in the deep snow-drifts. The village looked 
poor and desolate in the extreme. No smoke was rising from 
any of the huts, every other one of which w^as roofless. No 
living body was seen about ; all appeared to be ruin and death. 

We stopped at one of the izhas, in which the Count had 
opened a school and eating-room. For some time after our 
entrance we could see nothing distinctly, but our feet told us 
that the naked soil served as floor. When our eyes grew 
accustomed to the gloom we saw a number of benches, and 
standing between them about thirty children, silently looking at 
us. The teacher, an intelligent young man, approached and 
saluted us. In one corner were a couple of elderly people. 
From the neighbourhood of the oven came heavy breathing and 
coughing, and, lying on top of it, we saw three children,. 



E^ELiEF Work i.v Rjasan. 51 



covered with black small-pox. I suggested that these ought to 
be removed at once, and the Countess replied that it would be 
done as soon as possible, but as there were no hospitals, and 
almost every house was infected, it was not easy to isolate the 
sick. These poor children had been brought to the school, 
'^'because it was warm there." 

Leaving the Countess to attend to the school and eating- 
room, I went through part of the village from house to house. 

In izba No. 1 I found one cow, three elderly people, one of 
whom was lying on top of the oven, sick with typhus, by the 
side of two children in the last stages of black small-pox. 

In No. 2 was a child with black small-pox, an old man with 
typhus, and two women whose bodies were all swollen. No 
cattle — all starved ; no fuel, no food. 

In No. 3 a curious sight met my eyes. When I entered 
the small hut, the earthen floor of which was frozen hard, I 
saluted, but got no reply, nor could I see anyone. I was about 
to go, but heard heavy breathing, and a sound like sweeping 
proceeding out of the oven. All at once a pair of feet 
wrapped with rags protruded, and in a moment a big musliik 
crept out of the opening, followed by a sickly-looking woman, 
shivering and pressing her right hand on her brow. I asked 
what was the matter. " Golova holii " (my head aches), she 
answered. " Have you no children ? " " Yes : look here ! " she 
said, bursting into tears and pointing to what looked like a. 
bundle of rags on top of the oven. It proved to be two 
children, one on the point of death from hunger or consump- 
tion, and the other in the extremes of black small-pox. The man, 
tall and strongly built, stood with drawn stony face and hollow 
eyes, his tangled hair sticking out in all directions, motionless 
on the frozen floor, a picture of hopeless apathy. No cattle, 
no food, but what was given from outside. 

No. 4. Two grown people and two children, both ill. As 
she moved the rags that covered one of the children the 
mother burst into tears, and I saw great drops rolling down the 
cheeks of the poor disfigured girl herself. Something stuck 
in my own throat as, unable to utter a word, I gave the poor 
woman a silver coin and passed out. 



■b2 Relief Work in Rjasan. 



N o. 5 contained a woman, disfigured bj a disease shockingly 
common among the peasants, and two sickly and forlorn- 
looking children. 

No. 6 sheltered three families, one cow, one horse, and two 
sheep, all huddled together to protect themselves from the 
intense cold. It was a strange sight to see the fine-looking 
■dyadnshJca, or grandfather, with snow-white hair and beard, 
climb out of the crib to which the horse was tied, come 
tottering up to me on his aged limbs, and salute with a deep 
bow. I told him that friends of the musltiJcs, in foreign lands, 
had sent me with help to their suffering brothers in Russia. 
In a feeble and trembling voice he said, " What good people ! 
May God bless you ! " 

On my return to the school I found it changed into an 
•eating-room, filled with about forty persons, young and old, 
who sat down to eat, after crossing themselves and saying 
their prayers. The dinner, consisting of black rye bread and 
pea soup, tasted very good. When the Countess had arranged 
for the opening of an eating-room for little children we 
.started to return home. 

*' What is your impression from joiiv first village visit ? " 
iisked the Countess. 

"Terrible," was all I could say. "^Are j^ou not afraid of 
•catching small-pox and typhus ? " 

'"Afraid ! It is immoral to be afraid. Are you afraid? " she 
replied. 

"• No, I have never been afraid of infection while visiting 
the poor," I said. "It is terrible to see such hopeless misery. 
It makes me sick only to think of it." 

" And is it not shameful for us to allow ourselves so much 
luxury while our brothers and sisters are perishing from want 
iiiid nameless misery ? " she added. 

" But you have sacrificed all the comforts and luxuries of 
your rank and position, and stepped down to the poor to help 
them," I rejoined. 

" Yes," she said, " but look at our warm clothes and all 
other comforts, which are unknown to our suffering brothers 
iiiid sisters." 



E,ELiEP Work in Ejasan. 55 

" But what good would it do to tliem if we should dress in 
•rags and live on the edge of starvation ? " 

"What right have we/' she retorted, "to live better than 
they ? " 

I made no reply, but glanced wonderingly into the eyes of 
this remarkable girl, and saw there a large tear trembling ; 
something seemed to press on my heart and threaten to choke 
me. "■ But how is it possible that the authorities permit such 
a terrible state of things ? " 

"I don't know," was the short and significant answer. 

In the evening the Count seemed quite downcast. "\ feel 
really ashamed of this work," he said. ^^We don't know 
what real help there is in it. We are prolonging the 
existence of a number of the starving peasants for some time, 
but their misery will go on all the same ! " 

"You also help them spiritually," I said. "You are doing 
a good work." 

" I don't preach," he said. " I am so bad myself that I 
<5annot preach to others. And we do not know what is good 
and what is not; when we think we do something very good, 
it may be quite the reverse. The real good is in the will and 
the motives of our deeds." 

Next morning I started out with Miss Kuzminsky on a visit 
to two villages to arrange for the disfcribution of wood. The 
plan adopted was as follows : It was left free at the homes of 
the most destitute. Those not so badly off had to fetch it 
from the railway station, and from the least needy some return 
in work was expected. 

We reached the first village after a rapid drive of two hours 
over the snow-covered plain in a bitter cold, and stopped at the 
house of the starosta. Inside we found him, his wife, four 
■children, the grandfather, one cow, one foal, and three sheep, 
gathered in one room, lighted dimly by an opening of about 
eighteen inches in diameter. A large table stood on the soft 
earthen floor, and a bench ran along one side of the room; there 
were no chairs. We paid some visits at individual izbas, and then 
the mir was summoned to the starosta' s house. This was a work 
of no great difficulty, as almost the entire population of the 



56 



Eelief Work in Rjasast. 



village was following us as we went. Soon the izha was 
crammed with. musMJcs. Miss Kuzminsky took her place behind 
the table^ and by request I sat beside her. Then the proceed- 
ings began. Miss Kuzminsky had a list of the most needy. To 
the first, a poor widow with four children, all nodded assent,. 

crossing themselves. Then came Alexis B . There was a 

low murmur through the room, and a musJiih said, " Certainly 




PfiOST AND FAMINE. 



he hasno fuel, but neither have any of us, and he has a horse." 

Ivan X was mentioned. " Otchen hedni! " (Very poor).. 

So the entire list was run through, opinions being freely given 
on each case, while the sheep and the cow every now and then ex- 
pressed their opinion in their own language. Miss Kuzminsky 
made an excellent president, calling the speakers to order 
when they spoke too many at a time, or wandered from the 
subject. The mushiks themselves behaved in a gentlemanly 



Relief Woke: in Rjasan. 



57 



manner, and wlien tliey grew a little warm, there was nothing 
of the disorder that would ensue in European gatherings, if 
each one's character was canvassed as openly as at these 
meetings of the mir. 

The atmosphere was simply stifling, partly owing to the 
vermin and the cattle, and I was astonished that Miss 
Kuzminsky could stand it for over an hour without the least 




MISS KUZMINSKT AND THE PEASANTS. 



complaint. In this village also we found many sick folk, 
mostly suffering from black small-pox or typhus. 

On another occasion I went out with another guide, a young 
nobleman who had joined Tolstoi's band of workers. It was 
an intensely cold Saturday morning, and a greenish-yellow 
band along the eastern horizon threw a dim light over the 
snow-covered plain. We were bound for a distant village that 
had appealed for help. Soon our shaggy little horse was white 
with frost. The sun rose and gilded everything with his 



58 Eelief Work in E-jasan. 

lights but a sense of desolation oppressed us as we drew near 
the village. No smoke was rising anywhere. Most of the 
izhas were roofless, having been stripped for fuel. No living 
creature was to be seen, except two or three skin-covered 
skeletons of horses, picking a blade or two of old and rotten 
grass in front of a recently-dismantled izha, and a few forlorn- 
looking dogs, almost too starved to move from their places on 
the dirt-heaps in front of the huts. Death or desertion had 
emptied many of these, and in almost every house we entered 
there were persons sick of typhus, small-pox, &c. All the 
help received from the authorities was consumed, most of the 
cattle had died, and for food they used a kind of bread made 
of dried and powdered grass, chaff, straw, and leaves from 
trees. Those who were not ill with fever, &c., were almost too 
weak to move or speak. 

We reached home just before Count Tolstoi, whose good 
spirits were in great contrast to our weariness. He talked and 
laughed merrily, and his eyes fairly beamed with joy. The 
cause of his delight was soon told. He had finally overcome 
all obstacles and established his children's eating- room. A 
simple matter this, to our ideas, but it had cost him many a 
weary day of struggle against difficulties. The mere procuring 
of suitable food was hard enough, but there was also the 
ignorance, superstition, and folly of the ■mushihs, and the bitter 
opposition of the clergy to overcome. The rn,ushiks wanted the 
children's food bi;ought to their homes, but Tolstoi knew well 
that in that case the children would get but little of it . Then 
the priests frightened them with tales of learned theologians 
having conclusively proved out of the Book of Revelation that 
Tolstoi was veritably Antichrist. The story of his branding 
the mushiJcs on the forehead to seal them to the power of the 
devil has already been alluded to ; in this foolish and wicked 
story which Was preached from the pulpit, it was said that the 
Count paid the peasants eight roubles apiece as purchase- 
money. Only the Sunday before a Bishop had delivered a 
special sermon in the second-class waiting-room at the railway 
station at Klekotki, before a crowded audience, dishing up all 
these fables and denouncing the Count in the strongest terms 



Relief Work in Rjasan. 59 

as Anticlirist, who was seducing them with food, fuel, and 
other worldly goods. The Orthodox Church, he said, was 
strong enough to " exterminate Antichrist and his work." 

No wonder that many were frightened. But one of the 
mushiks in my hearing, settled the matter to his own satis- 
faction in a very logical way. " If the Lord," he said, " is like 
his servants, the popes and officials who oppress and rack us, 
and Antichrist is such a person as Tolstoi, who freely feeds 
us and our children, I had rather belong to Anti-Christ, and I 
shall send my starving children to his eating-room." Later 
on, the peasants sent their children by thousands. 

After our late dinner, while the Count was busy and the 
onushiks, crowding as usual to his headquarters, I took a walk, 
and noticed a gendarme, probably stationed there to keep a 
watch on what was going on. Besides this open representative 
of the Government of Petersbarg, there was a crowd of 
detectives, swarming in or about Byegitchevka. Sometimes 
they would come disguised as applicants, asking for help and 
denouncing the authorities ; sometimes as friends, volunteering 
their services. The Count's experienced eye, however, soon 
detected these, and he politely told them that they were not 
wanted. 

The evening of the same memorable Saturday saw a gather- 
ing of helpers and friends from different quarters, who had 
come to spend that night and part of the following Sunday in 
consultation and friendly intercourse with their master. Of 
this highly interesting group, of whom two were women, none 
were above middle age, and all were educated, some possessing 
a high degree of learning, and all from prominent families. 
One had been a Fellow of Moscow University and was about 
to be nominated to a professorship, when he suddenly quitted 
the University and " went to the people." In mushik dress he 
shares the peasant's life and toil, helping them in every 
possible way, believing this to be a better object of life than 
the attempt to beat Creek and Latin into the heads of the 
Russian upper class youth. Yet he was no dreamer, but a 
man of imperturbable calmness of mind, acute understanding, 
and deep knowledge of human nature. Two years ago, he 



60 



Relief Woek in Rjasan. 



travelled, mostly on foot, through all the provinces of this vast 
empire, visiting and studying all kinds of sectarians, working 
his way as a day-labourer, and securing in return only food and 



lodging. 




BEFORE A DISMANTLED IZBA. 



CHAPTP]R y\ 

TOLSTOI'S TABLE TALK. 

War — An Expensive Conscience,— Modern Religious Sects — Eeligion and 
Invention — The Russian Sectarians— " The Cafe of Surat" — Attitude to 
Political Governments — Western Literature and Mammon — Forthcoming 
Books — Is Tolstoi a Christian ? — The Nature of His Christianity. 

At evening, sitting round the boiling samovar or the tea-table. 
Count Tolstoi would converse with his friends on different sub- 
jects. Oat of kindness to me, the conversation was often carried 
on in an J of the Western languages, but when it grew ani- 
mated it insensibly glided into Russian, which I bat imper- 
fectly understood. What I did not understand, however, was 
for the most part kindly translated by one of the company. 

Naturally, the terrible distress and the incidents of relief 
work formed the staple matter of conversation, but at times 
other topics were introduced. Here I give a merely fragmentary 
account of some talks on more important subjects. Speaking 
of modern militarism. Count Tolstoi asked me once about the 
feeling of the people in my country towards the Russians. 
I told him that the pagan idea that certain nations were our 
natural enemies, and the abominable system of educating chil- 
dren in that unchristian belief, was gradually giving way to 
sounder and more Christian views, and added that our people 
certainly had no enmity towards the Russian people, and that 
many of our most thoughtful men were looking to Russia 
when in these days they wanted to find those who could afford 
to keep a conscience and follow its behests. 

After a moment's silence, the Count said, ** I like that expres- 
sion — to afford to keep a conscience. But I tell you, it is very 
■expensive ! " Then he spoke of his great hopes for the future, 
from the gradual change in popular opinion in favour of Chris- 



62 Tolstoi's Table Talk. 



tian relations between the nations, i.e., that thej are awaken- 
ing to the fact that we are all brothers, and cutting themselves 
loose from the pagan official tradition, inculcated and supported 
by the established churches, that we are enemies. 

Speaking of the religious question, he referred to the fact that 
Protestant churches have been and often are quite as intolerant 
as the Roman and Greek churches, and that Nonconformist 
denominations have the same tendency. He showed thorough 
acquaintance with the Nonconformist and Pietistic movement 
in Western countries. In his view, this movement in its first 
besfinnings fulfilled an important mission in rousing the people 
from their spiritual stupor, and breaking the fetters of eccle- 
siastical tyranny and formalism. But already it has largely 
lost its power for good by failing to follow the teaching and 
example of Christ ; it has followed the example of the State 
churches in allowing organisation and money to play a more 
prominent part than practical Christianity. 

It is this stepping aside from Christ's Christianity which has 
at all times led to the decline of religious denominations. 
Modern ecclesiastical and denominational Christianity, with its 
politics, its religious business-system, its dogmas, its formal- 
ism, its intolerance, is altogether artificial and opposed to the 
true interests of man. Christ's Christianity, on the other 
hand, satisfies his deepest needs, both in his private and social 
relations. 

Tolstoi had received books and papers descriptive of them- 
selves, both from the Salvation Army and the Mormons. Of 
the latter he said : " I have read their books with much inte- 
rest. It is remarkable what a prominent part invention plays 
in the different religious systems. It differs largely, however, 
in degree. With Joseph Smith we might say that it con- 
stitutes 90 per cent., whereas with Moses it amounts to 10 
per cent." 

Concerning the modern Christian sects in general, he said: 
" Above all things Christians ought to put themselves into a 
natural relation to one another and the world at large, i.e., to 
follow Christ and realise His teaching in daily life, instead 
of wasting their time and energy in organising sects, build- 



Tolstoi's Table Talk. 63 



ing churclies, supporting clergy, and fighting each other's 
dogmas." 

Of the present rehgious movement in Russia, which has cer- 
tainly raised the Sectarians to a much higher level than the 
Orthodox peasantry, Tolstoi has a high opinion. He gave 
interesting accounts of peasants vs^ho have both grasped and 
retained a firmer hold upon practical and central Christian 
ideas than many learned theologians. One night he read a 
deeply interesting letter from an old Stundist peasant, who had 
taught himself to read and write at the advanced age of sixty, 
in order to be able to read the Bible for himself. This letter 
is translated and given in the account of the Stundist move- 
ment later on in this book. When he had finished reading it, 
he said, " I tell you, these men are real heroes ! " 

Russian peasants very frequently consult the Count, either 
personally or in writing, about their perplexities on religious or 
moral questions, or come to him as a friend to confide their 
opinions to him, and discuss the, matters in point. 

His sympathies, like his views, are broad enough to compre- 
hend what is good and true in all men and creeds. This is 
shown both in his writings and his conversation. True, he 
criticises narrowness and combats error, and that not infre- 
quently in vigorous terms, but this is not for the mere pleasure 
of opposing others. His desire is to prepare the way for truth 
and make openings for the light. To come into personal con- 
tact with this man, and listen to his words, is to feel at once 
that you are under the spell of a passionate lover of truth and 
righteousness. 

There is a fable written by the Count, and published in the 
Vestnik Europi, called "The Cafe of Surat," which will be 
of interest, as it contains the ideas he frequently expresses in 
different forms in his conversation, and may fitly find a place 
in his " table talk." 

The Cafe op Surat. 

In the Indian town of Surat was a cafe, where travellers and 
strangers from all parts used to resort, and many folk were 
gathered together. 



<J4 Tolstoi's Table Talk. 

One day there entered a learned Persian theologian. He 
had spent his whole life in studying the being of God, and had 
both read and written many books on the subject. He had 
thought, read and written so much about God that he had lost 
all power of right thinking, and became muddled in his head 
to such a degree that he had lost faith in God altogether. 
"When the Persian King heard of this he banished him from his 
kingdom. 

After having belaboured his brains all his life concerning the 
Pirst Cause, this unhappy theologian had become so confused 
that instead of perceiving that he had himself lost his mind, he 
began to think that no greater mind ruled the world than his 
own. 

This theologian had a slave, an African, who accompanied 
him everywhere. When the theologian went into a cafe, the 
African remained outside in the court, and sat on a stone in 
the sun; so he sat at this time driving away the flies. The 
theologian threw himself on a divan, and ordered a small cup 
of opium, which was brought to him. When he had finished 
the whole cup, and the poison began to work in his brain, he 
turned to his slave and said, 

^' Now, wretched slave, tell me, is there a God or not ? " 

^' Of course there is," said the slave, and pulled out a little 
wooden idol from his girdle. " Here is the God that has pro- 
tected me all my life in this world. It is made of a bough of 
that holy tree that is worshipped everywhere in our land." 

The other customers in the cafe heard the conversation 
between the theologian and his slave, and were astonished. 
The question seemed to them odd enough, but the slave's 
answer more so. 

A Brahmin, who heard what the slave said, turned to him, 
-and exclaimed, '^ Miserable fool ! how is it possible to believe 
that God can be hidden in a man's girdle ? There is only one 
God — Brahma. That God is greater than the whole world, 
for he created the whole world. Brahma is the one great God, 
the God to whom temples have been raised on Ganges' sh ores ; 
the God who is served only by his priests, the Brahmins. 
These priests alone have knowledge of the true God. Twenty 



Tolstoi's Table Talk. 65 



thousand years have already passed, and how many revohitions 
have taken place in the world, yet these priests have remained 
what they always were, because Grod, the one true God, protects 
them." 

So spoke the Brahmin, believing that he had convinced them 
all. But a Jewish money-lender, who was present, answered 
him, 

^'Nay," said he, ^^the temple of the true Grod is not in 
India. And God does not protect the Brahmin caste. The 
true God is not the God of the Brahmins, bat of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob ; and the true God only protects His own 
people, Israel. From the beginning- of the world God has 
continually loved and does love our people only. And though 
our people are now scattered throughout the whole world, 
that is merely to try them, and God will, because He 
loves us, gather His people again in Jerusalem, and once 
more rebuild that wonder of the ancient world, the temple 
at Jerusalem, and raise Israel to the lordship over all other 
nations." 

Thus said the Jew, and burst into tears. He would have 
gone on with his speech, but an Italian who was there broke 
in on him. 

"■ You do not speak the truth," he said to the Jew, " you do 
not describe God rightly. God cannot love one nation more 
than another ; on the contrary, if He did in former years 
protect Israel, eighteen hundred years have now passed by 
since God's wrath was kindled against His people, and as proof 
of this wrath of His, He cut off their existence and scattered 
them over the whole world, so that their faith is not only no 
longer spreading, but only exists in a few places. God shows 
favour to no nation, but He calls all who wish to be saved into 
the bosom of the Eoman Catholic Church, outside which there 
is no salvation." 

So spoke the Italian ; but a Protestant clergyman, who was 
among the company, changed colour and answered the Catholic 
missionary. 

',^How can you say that salvation is only to be found in your 
religion ? Learn to know that they only can be saved who 

5 



m Tolstoi's Table Talk. 

serve God in spirit and in truth, after the law of Jesus, 
according to the Gospel." 

A Turk, a customs officer in Surat, who was sitting smoking 
his pipe, turned at this to the two Cbiristians with an earnest 
look. 

'' It is useless for you to be so certain of the truth of your 
Eomish religion," said he. " Your faith has already been 
superseded by Mohammed's teaching for six hundred years 
past. Moreover, as you can see yourself, Mohammed's correct 
doctrine is spreading more and more both in Europe and Asia, 
even in enlightened China. You yourself recognise that the 
Jews are rejected of God, and that the proof of it is that they 
are abased, and their faith is no more on the increase. Only 
those who believe on God's last prophet shall be saved — and of 
these Omar's followers alone, and not those of Ali, for these 
are unbelievers." 

At this remark the Persian theologian, who belonged to All's 
sect, wished to reply. But at that moment a general dispute 
arose between all the strangers of different religions and 
creeds. There were Abyssinian Christians, Indian Lamas, 
Ishmaelites, and fire-worshippers. They all disputed about the 
essence of God, and how He ought to be worshipped. Every- 
one maintained that only in his land was the true God known 
and worshipped as He should be. All quarrelled and shouted 
at one another. A certain Chinese alone, who was there, a 
disciple of Confucius, sat quietly in a corner and took no part 
in the hubbub. He drank his tea, and listened to what the 
others were saying, but himself kept silence. The Turk, who 
caught sight of him during the dispute, turned to him and 
said: "Help me, dear Chinese. You are silent, but you 
can very well say something to support my contention. I know 
that just now different religions are being introduced into 
China. Your merchants have more than once told me that 
you Chinese look upon the Mohammedan religion as the best of 
all, and willingly embrace it. Come to my assistance, and say 
what you think of the true God and His prophet." 

" Yes, yes ! " chimed in the others, as they turned to him. 

The Chinese Confucian shut his eyes, thought awhile, and 



i 



Tolstoi's Table Talk. 67 

then opened them^ while he drew out his hands from the wide 
sleeves of his dress, folded them on his breast, and began to 
speak in a quiet, mild voice. 

'^'^ Gentlemen," he said, '^^ it seems to me that it is just their 
own pride that more than anything else prevents men from 
agreeing in religious matters. If it will not wearj you, I will 
make this clear by a parable. I journeyed from China to 
Surat by an English steamer, which was on a voyage round 
the world. On the way we stopped at the east coast of 
Sumatra to take in water. At noon we went ashore and sat by 
the seaside under the shade of some cocoa palms, not far from 
some native villages. There were representatives of several 
different nationalities in the company. While we were sitting 
there a blind man came to us. He had become blind, as we 
learnt later, from looking too long and keenly at the sun. In 
-consequence of his continual gazing at and thinking about the 
sun he had at the same time lost both his sight and his reason. 
Since he was perfectly blind he had become fally convinced 
that there was no sun at all. He was accompanied by his slave, 
who settled his master in the shade of a cocoa palm, picked up 
a cocoanut, and beo^an to make a niCTht-liofht from it. He 
made a wick out of the fibre, pressed oil from the nut, and 
dipped the wick in it. While he was occupied with this the 
blind man sighed and said, '^Well, slave, what do you think 
now? Did I not tell you that there is truly no sun at all? 
See how dark it is, yet men say that there is a sun. But if 
so, what is the sun ? ' " 

" ' I don't know what the sun is,' said the slave ; ^ it doesn't 
matter to me ; but there is a light, I know that. Here is 
-a night-light that I have made, that gives light enough 
for me to serve you with, and get things ready about the 
cottage,' and he held up his cocoanut shell, '^Here,' he said, 
'^is my sun.' 

^'^A lame man was sitting there with his crutches. He listened, 
and began to laugh. ' You have surely been born blind,' said 
he to the sightless man, ' if you don't know what the sun is. 
I will tell you what it is. The sun is a fireball, and this fire- 
ball rises every day out of the sea, and goes down every even- 



68 Tolstoi's Table Talk. 



ing among tlie mountains of our island. We all see it, and you 
would toOj if 3''oa iiad your sight.' 

"^ A fisherman, who also sat there, said to the lame man, * It 
is very evident that you have never been outside your island. 
If you weren't a cripple, you would have been to sea, and known 
that the sun does not go down among the mountains on our 
island, but just as it rises out of the sea in the morning, so it 
goes down into the sea every night. I am felling the truth, for 
I see it with my own eyes every day.' 

*^ An Indian heard him. *It amazes me,' he said, ^how a 
sensible man can talk such rubbish. How can a fireball pos- 
sibly sink into the sea and not be quenched ? The sun is truly 
no fireball — the sun is a god, and that god is called Diva. The 
god drives in a chariot round the golden mountain Speruvia. 
Sometimes it happens that the fierce serpents Ragn and Keta 
attack Diva and swallow him, and then it gets dark. But our 
priests pray that the god may be delivered, and then he is set 
free. Only ignorant men like you, who have never been out of 
it, could imagine that the sun shines only on your island.' 

" A captain of an Egyptian vessel, who chanced to be there^ 
struck in. ^ Nay,' he said, ''that, too, is folly. The sun is 
no god, and he does not only go round India and that golden 
mountain of j^ours. I have sailed far and wide, both in the 
Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf ; I have also been to Madagascar 
and the Phillipine Islands, and the sun shines on all lands, and 
not India onl}^. He does not go round any particular mountain,^ 
but rises by the Japan Isles — -that is just the reason they 
are called Japan, because in their language it means *'The 
Sun's Birth" — and sets far away in the West, beyond the 
British Isles. I know this, because I have seen it myself, and 
have heard a great deal about it from my grandfather, and my 
grandfather sailed to the world's end.' 

" He would have gone on talking, but an English sailor from 
our ship interrupted him. 

" ' There is no country where they know so much about the 
sun's course as in England. The sun, as we all know quite 
well in England, doesn't stop anywhere, but keeps on going 
round the world.' But not knowing how to explain it quite- 



J?OLSTOi's Table Talk. 69 



clearly, lie pointed to tlie pilot, and said, '^He's a mucli 
cleverer chap than I, and can explain the way of it more 
<jlearly.' 

" The pilot was an intelligent man, and had listened in silence 
to the conversation till he was appealed to. But now, as they all 
turned to him, he began to speak, and said : ' You are all mis- 
taken, both you and the rest. The sun does not go round the 
'earth, but the earth round the sun ; besides this, the earth 
turns round its own axis, so that in the course of twenty-four 
hours Japan, the Phillipine Islands, and Sumatra, where we now 
■are, also Africa, Europe, Asia, and many other countries beside, 
turn towards the sun. The sun shines not only on the earth, 
but on many other planets which are like the earth. Those of you 
who are willing to be convinced of this have only to look up into 
the sky and then on yourselves here ; you will no longer believe 
that the sun shines only for you or your own land.' So 
spoke the wise pilot, who had travelled widely round the world, 
and gazed much into the heavens. 

" Yes, the mistakes, divisions, and strife of men concerning 
(religious questions come from pride," went on the Confucian. 
■^'^ As it is with the sun, so also about God. Everyman will have 
his special god, or, at least, one for his native land. Every 
nation desires to shut up in its own temple what the whole 
world cannot contain. And can any temple compare with that 
which God Himself has built to unite in it all people in one 
religion and one faith? All human temples are built after 
the pattern of that temple — God's world. In all temples there 
are founts, arched vaults, lamps, pictures, inscriptions, law- 
books, offerings, altars, and priests. In what temple is there 
such a baptistery as the ocean, such a vault as the sky, such 
lamps or candles as the sun, moon, and stars, such pictui'es as 
living men who love and help each other ? What inscriptions 
concerning God's goodness are so easy to understand as the 
blessings that God has everywhere lavished on us for our hap- 
piness ? What law-book is so plain and clear as that writte n 
in man's own heart ? Where are offerings of such worth as 
^hose offerings of self-sacrifice, that loving human beings make 
for their neighbour's sake ? And where is the altar that can 



70 Tolstoi's Table Talk, 

compare with a good man's heart, on which God Himself receives 
the offering? The loftier man's thought of God, the better 
his knowledge of Him. And the better he knows God, the 
more nearly will he approach Him, and resemble Him in His 
goodness, mercy, and love to the human race. But let not him 
who sees God's full light, that fills the whole world, condemn 
or despise the superstitious man, who in his little idol sees only 
a ray of the same light ; neither let him despise the unbeliever 
who is blind and sees no light at all." 

So spake the Chinese, the disciple of Confucius, and all in 
the cafe were silent, and no longer disputed as to which religion 
was best. So ends the parable. 

The position of Tolstoi and those who think with him with 
regard to the political government of the world has been 
greatly misrepresented in many quarters. It is true that they 
repudiate all worldly authority in general, because they are 
convinced of the equality of all men, and regard the unnatural 
relations that now prevail between the masters and the 
bemastered as a consequence of evolution on wrong lines. But 
a violent revolution against the present powers would be equally 
contrary to their principles, because they believe the command 
" Resist not evil " to be fundamental in morals. On these 
grounds they disapprove utterlj^ of the *• physical force " policy 
of the terrorist party. 

Tolstoi and his friends do not think much of Western litera- 
ture. They say that like everything else in the present system 
of society it is dominated by money-power, and consequently 
betrays great laxity of morals. According to them, money 
plays the most powerful part in the production of books. The- 
object of their making is money, and because they are made to 
sell, their contents are such as to be pleasing instead of true. 
The judgment of the critics is biassed, and these influence the 
choice and sale of books. Moreover, the publishers, who are 
powerful and wealthy themselves, exercise great pressure on the 
press and critics generally ; and the retail booksellers are also 
under the same pressure of pecuniary motives. Hence it 
follows that the vast flood of Western literature that issues 



Tolstoi's Table Talk. 71 

from the press is tainted in its source, and poisoned throughout 
by the deadly influence of Mammon. The most revolting- 
example of this they consider to be the composition and sale of 
hymns to the love of God and books concerning Jesus, all with 
a view to amassing money ; a proceeding that is in most violent 
contrast to the whole life and teaching of the Master. Every- 
one knows that Tolstoi himself is consistent in this ; that he 
retains no copyright in his works. It may not be so generally 
known that in Eussia his books, forbidden by the censor to be 
printed, are written out by hand at immense cost, and distri- 
buted at a price much below the value of the labour of copying" 
them. It seems scarcely credible that this laborious process 
should be necessary in these days of automatic compositors and 
rapid presses, yet who knows whether the influence of the works 
so copied and circulated in manuscript is really less than that 
of the enormous mass of printed literature that issues from the 
press of "Western Europe ? 

Tolstoi told me once that he desired to write two books 
before his death. One was to be a kind of counterblast to the 
increasingly martial spirit of the time, that seemed almost 
personified in the young German Emperor. This has since 
been published under the title of " The Kingdom of Heaven 
is Within You." It is, as the Count meant it to be, a 
kind of summing up of the case against all use of physical 
force. 

The other, that has not yet appeared, was to be the history 
of some JRussian colonists, who had unknowingly settled out- 
side the frontier of Eastern Siberia. There, away from all 
interference from Government officials, they had built up a little 
commonwealth of their own by the simple development that 
sprang from the natural satisfaction of their common needs, 
and passed several y^ars in peace and quiet hajjpiness. But 
one fine day the authorities discovered them. It was true they 
were beyond the frontier and outside the Hussian jurisdiction, 
but that was a small difficulty in the eyes of the paternally 
benevolent Government, They simply shifted the frontier so 
as to include the colony, and thus conferred on the unwilling 
people the inestimable blessings of life under an autocratic 



72 Tolstoi's Table Talk. 



despotism, with its accompanying delights of excessive taxa- 
tion, police supervision, forced military service, landlordism, 
established ecclesiasticism, &c. Yet some people do not know 
when they are well off. From that day the happiness and 
prosj)erity of the colonists has become a thing of the past. 
The question has often been put by prominent religious people 
in England, " But is Tolstoi a Christian ? " Well, that depends 
entirely on your conce^^tion of what a Christian is . If it is a 
matter of creed or ritual, no doubt Tolstoi would have to be 
rejected by most of the divisions into which nominal Christians 
have fallen. Tested by the standard of the Greek Church, he 
is not, for he has no belief in the validity of their ecclesiastical 
traditions, the powers of the priests, the efficacy of their 
pardons, the utility of saint worship, &c. Or by the Eomish 
test, he thinks nothing of the infallibility of the Pope, the 
In] maculate Conception, the power of priestly absolution, of 
ecclesiastical bannings or blessings. He is outside the Anglican 
fold, for he has no faith in " orders," or in the apostolical 
succession. " Evangelicals," so called, cannot claim him as 
one of them, for he does not accept their theories about 
the inspiration of the Bible or the exact relations of the 
Persons of the Trinity, or their favourite exjDlanation of 
Christ's work of salvation. What is left of the Christian 
faith, you ask ? 

Tolstoi is not so much concerned with beliefs about, as faith 
in, God and Jesus Christ. He believes in God as a child 
believes in his father. That is, he trusts His wisdom and His 
love, although he feels unable to give metaphysical definitions 
of these attributes, and precise explanations of the manner in 
which they work. To him God expresses all that is good, 
noble, true, pure, and beautiful. He believes in Jesus Christ 
as the Leader of men through the difficulties and perplexities 
of this world, as the Deliverer from what is really evil, as the 
Way of Life. He tries to follow Him, to obey His commands, 
that his own life may grow, and his faculties be developed to a 
fuller understanding of the truth. 

This may be wofuUy insufficient, according to the views of 
those who themselves think they possess clear and true 



Tolstoi's Table Talk. 73 

doctrines, and that "except a man so believe lie cannot be 
saved," but it is remarkably like what Christ required of men 
-Himself. And of the two, this simple faith, this earnest 
endeavour to he and to do right, costs a man far more than the 
effort merely to thinlc right. 

Moreover, judged b}^ the standard of dogma, Tolstoi could 
not be a Christian, according to one division of Christians, 
without being a heretic according to the others, but in sight of 
this attempt to live his life in harmony with the teaching of 
Christ, he is at one with all earnest and sincere men of every 
denomination whatever. 

It is true that Tolstoi can no more avoid dipping into 
doctrine occasionally than the rest of us, and his recently 
published book on "The Four Gospels" shows that he, too, 
can be led by the use of subjective methods to critical results 
that can hardl}^ stand the test of objective facts. It is true 
that in his " Kingdom of Heaven is Within You " he use s 
arguments that seem to many of us to be invalid, and draws 
inferences from Christ's words that strike us as unwarranted, 
and that in his books generally he expresses opinions that are 
no more certainly true than other men's opinions; and, of 
course, he believes in them, as we all believe in our own, and 
very rightly, so long as we really think them, and do not merely 
reflect the opinions of those about us. 

This is no more than to say that Tolstoi is human ; that he 
is not himself the Truth, but only a disciple seeking to find and 
obey the Truth ; that he is not the Light himself, but one who 
is earnestly trying to open out his whole life to the Light, that 
under its vivifying rays he may grow as God meant him to 
grow, that the dark places of wrong within him may be 
purified by the Light, and all that is good bear much fruit. 
Only a disciple, yet, with all his faults and errors, of which 
probably no one is more conscious than himself, nearer the 
Master by far than many of us who wisely sit in judgment 
on them; a disciple who, by his renunciation of the riches, 
power, and dominion of the world that came to him by birth, 
by his sturdy and uncompromising struggle against what he 
honestly believes to be evil, by his self-sacrificing deeds 



74 Tolstoi's Tablk Talk. 

of mercv and love among *^ these least," lias honourably 
earned the right to the name of " Christian," which, with 
multitudes of *' professors " more orthodox than he, is 
merely a conventional label of respectability, a badge 
assumed light-heartedly, a wearing of the Master's colours 
that is belied by a carelessness about the faithful execution 
of His orders. 



CHAPTER YI. 

SPEI^a SCENES IN SAMAEA. 

On the Cars — Conditions of Eussian Travel — A Prison Car — Eelief Work io 
the City of Samara — Eailroad Punctuality — Mushilc Hospitality — A 
Molokhan Meeting — My Lodgings with Count Lyeff Tolstoi — Famine 
Scenes — A Wakeful Night — " Vot Klop ! " — Visit to Petrovka — In a 
Snowdrift — Von Birukoff — Feeding on Clay — " He must be the Devil ! " 
— Orphaned Children — Upper-class Opinion and Government Opposition — 
An Address of Thanks — Birtikoif and the Priest — A Lenten Service — 
The Popes and the Villager? — A Cheap Marriage — The Pojpe and the 
Bell — A Peasant's Biirial — The Burnt Sheepskin — Fine Feathers — The 
Eouble Note — Eastertide — Visit to a Horse-Farm — A Stormy Night — 
Black Thoughts — A Peasant Superstition — " Christos Voskresje ! "- — 
Lack of Seed — A Farewell Visit — Count Lyeff Tolstoi — The Honest 
Physician ! 

Eakly in March, 1892, on a bitterly cold morning, I left 
Count Tolstoi's headquarters in tlie Government of Ejasan, 
to accompany his sou Lyeff Lvovitch and another young 
nobleman, Paul von Birukoff, to the young Count's centre of 
operations in the government of Samara. '^ Where shall we 
meet next ? " said Tolstoi to me as we parted ; '^ perhaps in 
Sweden, or beyond the Mississippi ! " 

As we went towards the railway station of Klekotki in our 
sleighs, we met a long ohoz, or baggage-train, of more than a 
hundred horses, bringing fuel and food for the relief work. 
Our own train, according to the habit of Eussian railways, 
was several hours late. We travelled third-class, following 
the Tolstois' usual custom, taking our baggage into the car 
with us. Long distances prevail in this country, so a 
traveller's equipment usually consists of portable bedding, food, 
and a tea-set : you can get hot water on the cars. Every nook 
and corner of the train was crowded with luggage and 
packages of different kinds. The passengers, also, were of 
assorted varieties — Eussians proper, Mordvinians, Tcheremiss, 
Tatars, and Bashkirs. Of these, the Tatars held a dis- 



76 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



tinguisbed pre-eminence in my eyes, by reason of tbeir 
cleanliness and politeness. The young Count called tbem 
"real gentlemen," and told me that they were the most 
honest and sober people in all Eussia, and consequently filled 
positions of trust as a rule. He gave a good character also to 
the Bashkirs, but in my own experience I found them of a 
slyer and more cunning disposition than the Tatars. The 




A GKOUP OF TATARS. 



Mordvinians and Tcheremiss are of Finnish race, inhabiting 
the forest regions of Kasan and its neighbouring districts, 
which have been their home as far back as history reaches. 
Nominally orthodox, they are at heart pagan, and in secret still 
offer sacrifices to the spirits of the forest. They were very 
picturesque in appearance, with their olive faces, black 
moustaches, dark Mongolian eyes, and white caftans of coarse 
woollen homespun. The Tatars and Bashkirs are Moham- 



Spking- Scenes in Samara. 



77 



medans ; tliey and these semi-pagan tribes, including also the 
Yotyaks and Tchuvaslii, their neighbours, are on a very high 
moral level, being industrious, sober, and honest. 

I could not sleep at all the first night. The smell, the 
vermin, and the presence of diseased mushiks were too much 
for me ; I had frequently to go out on to the platform — the 
cars are of the American pattern — on account of nausea. 
But the famine had one incidentally good result : there was 




THE TOUNGEB TOLSTOI S HEADQUAETERS AT PATROVKA. 



a general absence of drunken people ; the first I noticed was a 
priest. 

During the night a prison car, whose small windows were 
protected by iron bars, and on each of whose platforms stood 
two gendarmes in grey, armed with rifle, revolver, and sword, 
was attached to our train. It was filled with convicts bound 
for Siberia, including both genuine criminals and those whose 
political or religious opinions made them obnoxious in the eyes 
of a suspicious Government. I noticed, when I got a glimpse 
through the double doors, some comely girl faces among the 
crowd of rough and shaggy musJdk heads. Even children are 



78 Spring Scenes in Samara. 

not infrequently sent to Siberia for political or ecclesiastical 
reasons. 

Birukoff had brought bandages and antiseptics, and 
occupied himself each day with washing and dressing the sores 
of the mushiks, and speaking words of cheer to them. 

The second night, also, I could not sleep a wink ; it was not 
merely the heat and the stifling, poisonous air, but there were 
a number of suspicious individuals about, and thieving is 
of very common occurrence on the cars. The third night 
tired nature would be denied no longer, and I slept soundly. 
At five a.m. the Count woke me to see the Volga bridge, and an 
hour later we were in the city of Samara, whose elevated 
position on the east bank of the Volga, and public buildings 
and churches, give it a striking appearance. 

We stopped here a day to transact some business. The place 
was crowded with starving mushiks, suffering from spotted 
typhus, black small-pox, and scurvy, begging for bread by day 
and sleeping in hovels and cellars at night. Very many of the 
rich had fled to Paris or Nice. Private relief- work was chiefly 
carried on by foreigners. Two Germans, Herr Koenitser 
and Herr Wakano, fed respectively fifty and a hundred j)eople 
daily. An Englishman, Mr. Besant, with means brought from 
Great Britain, gave each day two meals to four hundred of the 
sufferers. The Eassian helpers were mainly sectarians ; a 
Molokhan lady, a widow, worked assiduously and quietly, 
according to her means, among the poor. It was the same in 
the province. The English Friends, supported Prince Dolgoru- 
koff's medical expedition to Eastern Samara, and dispensed 
much help through their agents. The young Count Tolstoi's 
funds, by which he carried on his extensive work, came mostly 
from foreign countries, chiefly England and America. 

At one a.m. we were at the railway station, but the train was 
not. All was quiet as death. In the second-class waiting-room 
we found a number of men, women, and children, covering about 
a quarter of an acre of flooring, making night musical by 
snores in various keys, surrounded by immense piles of luggage. 
Lyeff Tolstoi came in with the tickets, after sending an express 
telegram to the place to order horses, and told us the train was 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 79 

belated seven hours ! In stoic calm he spread his cloak on the 
floor and joined the conlp^ny of sleepers^ and after a cup of tea 
we did the same. At nine the coming of the train was 
announced for mid-daj ; it proved to be two p.m. The cold was 
30° Keaumnr (about 85-36'-' Fahr.). On the way a priest told 
us that in his village, which contained 1,600 people, there was 
only one horse left ; all i;he rest were starved or killed. 

At Bagatoye we left the train, it being then dusk. We 
found that one of our cases of canned goods had been stolen, 
and that the express telegram, despatched from Samara twenty 
hours before, had not yet been forwarded. We had, in conse- 
quence, to send for conveyances to the nearest village, Sani, each 
drawn by two small shaggy horses, tamdem fashion. On the 
way the Count beguiled the time by telling me stories of the 
nomadic races who had lived on these steppes, and fought 
heroically for their freedom. 

We lodged that night with a mushik acquaintance of the 
Count's, who seemed to be considerably above the usual run. 
Not only was his place much cleaner than was common, but it 
had a plank flooring. We slept on the floor in thick blankets, 
the lamp overhead burning all night. In the morning our 
hostess poured water over our hands as we washed, a Russian 
custom of hospitality. After a breakfast of tea and bread we 
pushed on, and soon arrived at Pakovka, the village which 
Count Lyeff used as his centre. His headquarters consisted of 
a one - storied izha, divided by partitions into three small 
rooms ; one for sleeping, one for entry, reception-room, and 
kitchen, and one for dining-room, parlour, and office. The 
second was constantly crowded with mushiks. No sooner had 
we arrived than we were besieged. The Count went to work 
at once, and all the time I was with him he took but few hours 
of rest by night or day. 

That was Saturday. One of our drivers had been a fine, 
neatly-dressed youth, who had told me of his connection with 
the Molokhan sect, and on my expressing a wish to be present at 
one of their meetings had offered me a hearty welcome. Birukoff 
and I went next day, at 9 a.m., and found in a large izha about two 
hundred people collected ; the women and children were toge- 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



ther nearest the doors, and the men inside. They had been 
told of onr coming-, and on our entrance rose together in greet- 
ing- ; our coats were taken, and we ourselves led right through 
and given seats at the table. Like most of the sectaries, the ap- 
pearance and demeanour of these powerfully-built, though now 
emaciated folk, indicated a higher degree of intelligence and 
culture than that of the Orthodox peasants generally. 

As soon as we were settled, the congregation rose again, and 
struck up a very strange kind of chant. The words were from 
a chapter of the New Testament, read out verse by verse by one 
of the leaders. The music was a kind of canon or round, of 
which the motive remained the same, but which was subject to 
variations to suit the different words of the text. Like all 
Eussian songs, it was in a minor strain, and made a deep im- 
pression on me, despite its primitive, almost wild character. 
These simple, wailing tunes have been shaped during centuries 
of remorseless persecution, and express the striving after light 
and freedom of many thousands of souls. They were now sung 
with great feeling and life by the whole assembly. I give an 
attempt at reproduction of the motive of the chant : — 



* 






1 



^^=p^ 



;5=* 



T^~~^ 



w^^ 



~9 ^ #^ 



After the singing, one of the leaders read Matt, xxv., con- 
taining the parables of Jesus concerning the Virgins and the 
Talents, making short and practical comments as he read. Then 
the meeting was open to all, and several of the older members ex- 
pressed their views tersely and to the point. I must say I found 
this mode of proceeding more instructive and helpful than many 
of the set theological sermons I have listened to, although these 
mushilcs, who had frequentl}^ taught themselves to read in 
advanced years and under extreme difficulties, had no other 
source of instruction than the Bible and their observation of 



Spring Scenes in Samaba. 



81 



life. I translate some of mj notes, in which I jotted down a 
few of their comments : — 

^^ The fire in the virgins' lamps is insight into truth. But it 
is not enough to have fire; one must use, and, above all 
things, have oil. What is this oil ? It is the will to do good 
expressing itself in action, i.e., good deeds. "We can have light 
and great insight, and not live up to it, like those spoken of in 




STAROST. 

Tolstoi's chief helper. 



p. VOJSr BIRUKOFF. 



COUNT L. TOLSTOI. 



another parable, who build their house on sand, that is, hear 
the word without doing it afterwards. This is the most impor- 
tant matter in the whole of Christianity, yet is most often 
neglected by those who profess to be Christians, who occupy 
themselves with a lot of doctrines and ceremonies rather than 
doing the will of God. The kernel and centre of good works is 
love to God and man, love showing itself in self-sacrifice for 

6 



82 Spring Scenes in Samaea. 

the suffering brother, as is proved by Christ's words concerning 
the last judgment — only those who have fed the hungry, 
clothed the naked, visited the sick, &c., will enter into His 
glory." 

Birukoff also, at request, not only commented on the passage, 
but gave an address on the words, " The Law and the Prophets 
were until John ; from that time the Gospel of the Kingdom of 
God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it." 

There was not room in Tolstoi's izba for more than himself 
and chief helper, Ivan Alexandrovitch Berger, so I had to get 
quarters elsewhere. I found these in the afternoon, in the izba 
of the village " Pisar,''' or scribe, a young unmarried man and 
his widowed mother. I had breakfast with these good people, 
but dinner and supper with the Count. Another member of 
this household I shall always remember with affection. He was 
from our first acquaintance one of my most intimate friends, 
shared my bed frequently, took tea and milk out of my saucer, 
and was always brisk and cheerful, however gloomy our sur- 
roundings. True, Vaska was ^^ only a cat," but he has many a 
time brought me no little comfort when returning from scenes 
of hunger, disease, and death. 

The free kitchens in Samara district were on the same plan 
as those of Rjasan, except in minor points where local circum- 
stances led to alteration. Here, too, deputations from distant 
villages came with appeals for help, and when the workers 
returned from their rounds they brought the same tales of 
typhus, scurvy, black small-pox, &c., caused by the famine. Here 
is a sample of a day's work, extracted from my diary, Wednes- 
day, March 24. 

6 a.m. The bells call the Orthodox to early mass. It is 
Lent, and this early Mass is celebrated every day. The head- 
quarters are already besieged by a crowd of applicants. Not 
professional beggars, with well-worn, stereotyped petitions and 
blessings, but a timid manner of making their wants known. 
" Our food is all gone long ago ; we are starving. Help us.'* 
'^ My wife and children are sick, and I have nothing for them ; 
help us with a little tea and sugar, and something for 'kasha 
and soup ! " " We have a horse and cow, which are starving. 



Spring Scenes in Samaba. 8S 



We are so grieved to lose them now that spring is so near. 
Help us with a little fodder." 

A little girl is led up to the Count, and in a voice hard! 3* 
audible for suppressed tears, whispers " Mj mother died last 
night, and I have nothing for my little brothers and sisters." 

While at breakfast fresh batches of petitioners arrive, among^ 
them some Bashkirs and Tatars from great distances, with 
terrible tales of misery and pestilence. " Our own provisions 
gave out long ago. The Government help is not enough to keep 
us alive. Nearly all our cattle have perished. Our sick ones 
and our children are slowly dying of starvation." 

One of the helpers and myself drove to a neighbouring 
village to look into the sanitary conditions. First we came to 
a row of clav huts, somethino^ like the adobe huts in New 
Mexico, but much poorer. The snow had drifted above many 
of their flat roofs, the location of which could be found by 
the smoke from Msjctk (fuel of dried manure and straw) that 
rose here and there. An opening in ih& drift let us inside, 
and we found that a small window had also been kept clear. 
Before our eyes were of use, our ears caught the sound of 
heavy breathing and moaning. Then we saw on the oven a 
woman of middle age suffering from spotted typhus. To our 
questions she gave only incoherent replies. A man of about 
the same age, dressed in a shirt of dirty sackcloth, girt round 
the waist with a rope, his uncombed hair on his forehead, and 
his glassy, sunken eyes fixed in an expression of despair, sat by 
the side of the oven, and on a bench lay a little five-year-old 
boy in rags, and suffering from hunger and scurv3\ Two 
wooden benches and a small rough table on the earth floor 
were all the furniture they had. 

" Have you any cattle ? " " No, we had two cows, but had 
to kill them." " Any fuel ? " " Only what our neighbours 
give us." '' Any food ? " The man produced a hard piece of 
black rye bread, all that was left of the Government supply. 

A second hut contained an old man of seventy, a woman of 
forty, dreadfully scored about the face with disease, and two 
emaciated children, sick, on top of the oven, slowly perishing of 
starvation. The father had been carried off by spotted typhus. 



84 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



and the grandfather had come to look after the familj. The 
same story — no cattle, no fuel, two loaves of broad, a few peas. 

In a third hut, larger than the foregoing, we found five 
persons, a calf, and two sheep. Two of the five persons were 
down with typhus, the rest were suffering from scurvy. The 
other huts we visited simpl}^ repeated the story with variations. 

I visited one of the free kitchens the Count had opened. 




APPLICANTS FOB AID. 



About fifty guests came, each with his wooden bowl and spoon. 
Most of them crossed themselves as they entered — there were 
not so many of the " unorthodox " here — and when all were 
assembled they sang the " table prayer " in chorus. The first 
part is to Bogo matjer, God's mother, the second consists of 
extracts from the Lord's Prayer, the third is a prayer for the 
Tsar. The food consisted of bread, pea soup, and Ixtsha. 

In addition to the clay huts of the village, there were sheds 
that had been thatched with straw. But they had been dis- 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



-•5,.- 



mantled for fue], and now presented a hizarre appearance, as 
the bare wooden framework, with branches of willow wattled 
in, gave something of the appearance of a deserted rookery. 
Miserable skeletons of horses were here and there plucking the 
remains of some of the thatch that had been pulled off. 

While we were away Prince Dolgorukoff had arrived, and I 
was introduced to him on our return. This Prince, as was 
said above, was conducting a medical expedition in Eastern 
Samara, the expenses of which were partly borne by Friends in 
England. This was a very timely aid, as there were no hos- 
pitals, and, in fact, no sanitarj^ arrangements whatever. On 
paper, there was to be a store of medicine for every volost, or 





VILLAGE STREET IN PATEOVKA. 



district of villages, but when we made inquiries the whole 
*' store " consisted of " only three bottles containing some 
unknown liquid " ! Two physicians, two surgeons, and six 
volunteer nurses constituted this expedition. They took dinner 
and supper with the Count, and though the accommodation 
was cramped the company was good, and all went well. 

It was late that night when I reached my '^room." This 
was a small corner behind the oven, on the top of which my 
host and hostess slept. But I found sleep hopeless. The 
pictures of the saints I had seen in the daytime seemed to 
move about in lifelike fashion. I shut my eyes many times in 
hopes of dropping off, but they opened of their own accord 



86 Spring Scenes in Samara. 

just as often. The church bell tolled ^' Oiae." The lampadha, 
burning before the saint in " the holy corner " of the outer 
room, spread a dim light, and through a crack in the wooden 
partition I could see an uglj old saint staring at me, while on 
the oven's top my hosts snored lustily. I tried to sleep again, 
but it was no use. I lit my lamp, looked at my watch — it was 
2 a.m. — and tried to read, but my thoughts wandered. I 
glanced at the wall, and there was life and motion ! I had 
already tired myself out in warring with the vermin, which 
taught me to suffer in silence. Therefore, I left these travellers 
in peace. I thought of the morning, when at last I could get 
€ut of this dark and stifling prison into the fresh air and 
light of the sun. I peeped into the other room, and was 
surprised to see that the lampadka of the holy Nicholas was 
going out, so I decided to let my little lamp, which illumined 

no saint with shining halo, but a swarming multitude of , 

burn on till the sun should supersede both lamp and lampadka. 
With longing after the sun and the fresh air I at last fell 
asleep. 

After spending the night once in another peasant's house, 
my good host asked me in the morning if I had slej)t well. 
When I said "No," he inquired if I had been visited by "Hop." 
Not having heard the word before, I asked what it was. Rising 
quickly and running to the wall, he picked off a bug and 
brought it to me in his hand. '' Vol Mop " (this is Mop), he said. 
He looked astonished when I expressed my strong aversion to 
*'^B flats," declaring ^'^they are good for cleansing the blood." 

Saturday, March 27. — As I sat at breakfast, the door opened, 
and a small, piping voice was heard on the other side of the 
partition : "Sarin gatav ? " (Is the gentleman ready?) " 8ei 
tschess" (Immediately). The voice belonged to a little, 
lively and agreeable little mushiJc, who was to drive us over to 
Birukoff's headquarters at Petrovka, some twenty miles away 
over the steppes. We found a strong headwind blowing, and 
out on the steppes the storm was very bad, so that it was with 
the utmost difliculty that I could see the horse in front of us. 
It was a wonder to me how Yasutka, my driver, who looked 
like a little snow goblin on the sledge, could find the way. In 



Spuing Scenes in Samaka. 87 

one valley we did lose it^ and the poor horse struggled helplessly 
in the soft snow. Vasutka began to beat the poor animal, who 
struggled hard, shivered, and looked piteously round at us. 
" Stop that," I cried to him, and jumped out to unharness the 
horse. The cold seemed to me much harder to bear out on 
these steppes than the same degree of frost on ouv own northern 
fells ; my hands began to freeze as I outspanned the horse, and 
it was with the greatest difficulty that I kept my face from 
becoming frost-bitten. 

We managed with ropes to haul the horse out of the drift on 
to some harder tracks, but had to repeat the j^rocess several 
times. The horse was getting exhausted, and it seemed 
probable that we should have to spend a day and night in 
a snowstorm out on the steppes. "Yasutka, do jon think we 
shall get out of this ? " " Gosjjod znajer " (God knows) . " Are 
you afraid?" " Nitchevo ! " This last word is hardly trans- 
latable ; it is a kind of vocal shrugging of the shoulders. 

However, at last we hit the road again, and by good hap 
kept it until we reached our journey's end. 

Birukoff was out, but the peasants, after gaping and whis- 
pering about my outlandish dress and broken E,ussiaii, showed 
me to his room. It was about 10ft. by 6ft. His box-bedstead 
was made of roughly-nailed boards ; there were two wooden 
stools and a table, on which lay a Russian New Testament, a 
French philosophical treatise on Pythagoras, and some lists and 
•account books belonging to the relief work. In about half-an- 
hour he came home, tired and hungry, but cheerful as usual, 
and we had a late dinner. Like his master Tolstoi, Birukoff is 
a vegetarian, and lived on the same food that he served to the 
peasants. 

The usual crowding in of applicants took place during the 
meal, and after attending to them we went off to a committee 
meeting concerning some new eating-rooms. The members of 
this committee impressed me very favourably by their bearing 
and speech. They clearly felt that they were not in the pres- 
ence of officials, whom they hated and feared, but turned to 
Birukoff as a friend ; he, on his part, met them with unfeigned 
cordiality and respect. I was introduced, and the object of my 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



journey explained, after the business was finished. One and 
all rose np, and in chorus thanked me, and asked me to convey 
their thanks to all the friends abroad who had contributed 
through me. 

It was evident from what was brought forward at this meet- 
ing, that in spite of all denials from certain quarters, numbers 
were dying directly of starvation, and not simply from diseases 
occasioned by the famine. It also appeared that many families 
had mixed clay with the bread. I keep a sample of this as a 
grim memorial. 

When we came out there was a considerable crowd assembled 
to see " the first foreigners who had visited their village." I 
was by this time so used to the curiosity of the peasants that it 
roused my wonder when I was not followed by a crowd. This 
happened to me once, where I saw women and children peeping 
round corners or out of windows, and then hastily drawing 
back. The riddle was solved when I reached my lodging. 
My companion, with whom I had been speaking in German, 
told me that the women in the village had said, " He doesn't 
use Christian speech, and he is not dressed like a Christian. 
He must be the tjo7't (devil) himself." 

Von Birukoff had had to overcome endless opposition from 
the different authorities before he could succeed in his work ; 
yet he had triumphed to an extraordinary degree, and astonished 
me with his indomitable doggedness and pluck. He had charge 
of the north-eastern wing of the Count's army of warriors 
against pestilence and famine. Already he had established 
forty eating-rooms, and hoped to double that number. 

One of the most heartrending features of the famine was the 
multitude of orphaned children, whose parents had fallen 
victims to starvation or typhus. In Samara alone they num- 
bered many thousands, and, without friends or relatives, 
wandered from village to village seeking help for themselves 
and little brothers or sisters. Many were fed in the Count's 
eating-rooms, but it was impossible to help more than a small 
number of the great multitude. 

Here is an entry from my diary: April 14th. Got no rest 
during the night. About midnight a number of starving people,, 




hh'r\^ir^K 



STARVING OLPHANS. 



Spuing Scenes in Samaka. 91 

wandering from, village to village in search of bread, came and 
asked for food. The pitiable folk seemed in hopeless despair. 
In the onter room thej kept talking and whispering, now 
and again breaking out into sobs and crying. The number of 
starving beggars roving about is increasing alarmingly. One 
crowd after another has passed through the village during the 
day, very many of whom have been children. As I was eating 
my breakfast this morning I saw a large number of child- 
beggars approaching my lodging-place across the plain. It 
was no new sight, but very painful on that sunny April morning 
to see these pinched and starving little ones. One girl of about 
nine, carrying a little child, looked as if she might have been 
thirty or more. A little way off stood a boy, looking on the 
ground with a sorrowful expression. 

"Where do you come from, little children? " I asked. 

'^' From the village of G " (in the neighbourhood). 

" Who is the little one in your arms ? " I asked the girl. 

" My little brother." 

" Where are your parents ? " 

"They have died in the '^disease' " (spotted typhus). 

" Have you no relatives ? " 

*^ Many have died in the disease, and others have gone away." 

'^' What is your name? " I asked the boy just mentioned. 

"Ivan Petrovitch A." 

" Where are your parents ? " 

^' I have no parents ! " And the poor little fellow burst int o 
tears. The other children told me that his father died a 
month ago, and that his mother was buried yesterday. All of 
them, I discovered, were orphans. 

Yet it was one of the things that astonished me most in 
Russia, to find that so many of the upper-class people in the 
cities tried to deny the existence of any extraordinary famine, 
and that while the cities themselves were swarming with the 
starving peasants. Once a well-fed and warmly-clad " gentle- 
man " on the cars said to me, in an authoritative tone, " The 
distress of the mushiks is not so great as people make out. 
They are accustomed to no other condition, and are contented 
and happy. The mnshilcs are cattle." 



92 



Spuing Scenes in Samara. 



'Not only so, but at first the authorities prohibited the 
giving of relief by private persons, and when that was no 
longer possible invariably gave them the cold shoulder, and 
even set detectives in large numbers to spy on their 
proceedings. 

In Moscow, for example, a certain Madame Marosova, who 
offered to support 10,000 famine-stricken people at her own 
cost, if«s forbidden to do it, and one of Colonel Paschkoff's 
large establishments, in which 500 people were fed daily, 
was closed by the police in the famine year 1892, in 
Petersburg, under the eyes of the Procureur of the Most Holy 




GOVEKJNMEKT LU1LL)1K&S IN PATtOVKA. 



Synod and of the " Little Father " of the Eussian people. 
Even in the destitute villages out on the steppes of Samara 
detectives were watching those who were devoting all their 
powers to feeding the hungry, while official representatives of 
these *'■' powers (of darkness?) that be," who were doling out 
a horrible mixture of chafP, sand, and dirt, instead of the flour 
provided by Government, were left unmolested. Of course, I 
do not know what these "ministering spirits " reported about 
our work, but I am sure that if they told the truth they could 
in no way describe the methods of relief as "dangerous." The 
loyalty of the addresses of thanks from the peasants ought to 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 



93 



have satisfied the very Pobiedanostseff himself. Here is a 
specimen. 

ADDRESS OF THANKS. 

On behalf of the meeting in the village of Samovolovka in 
the district of Patrovka, and in the name of persons belono-ino- 
to the eating-room^ who number fortj, no more and no less. 



iig«mi« «i n»iiiin i "" »- 



iSS lift a^ & ^aa asi 





TSi BBl 




CHURCH IN PATBOVKA. 



and who, from their whole sincere heart, and with the 
unanimous consent of the entire meeting, have the honour of 
thanking 

Eirst, and above all, the Heavenly Tsar, and 

Next to Him the Earthly Tsar, Alexander Alexandrovitch, 
with his whole family, and the Most Holy Synod, with all its 
nearest councillors, and finally 

We have the honour of thankins: Your Hiorhness Count 



94 Spring Scenes in Samaka. 

Tolstoi, and you, Mr. Merchant, Paul Ivanovitch, for all your 
benefactions to us, for your food; and if we liad not received 
alms from both quarters, from His Imperial Majesty the 
Emperor, and from Your Highness Count Tolstoi, we would 
have been in a terrible state, we would hardly have been alive. 
From our whole, sincere, and grateful heart we again thank 
you, and we remain very satisfied with your arrangements, and 
we will thank you many times for many years. We shall be 
very, very content. 

Some weeks after my visit to Petrovka, the following incident 
happened there. I had it, not from Birukoff himself, who, 
like Tolstoi and his helpers generally, makes it a rule never to 
tell about how they are treated by priests and officials, but 
from another, a thoroughly reliable person. 

Herr von Birukoff went one day on certain business to the house 
of a Kulack in the village, where he met the priest of the place. 
The host set tea, and wine and vodka before them. The priest 
took both tea and vodka, but Birukoff, being an abstainer, took 
tea only. The former soon got '^^a little fresh," and began 
throwing out innuendoes against Birukoff and his helpers. 
'* People come now from all parts," he said, " and give so much 
food to the mushiks that they completely spoil them, but they 
never go to church, but set the peasants a bad example, and do 
not live according to the Bible." *' What do you mean ? " said 
Birukoff ; " speak plainly, and don't insinuate." 

" Well, I mean that you care nothing for church or Bible, 
and live like heathens." 

"^ 1 love and revere the ISTew Testament," said Birukoff, " and 
earnestly try to carry out its contents in my life. I always 
carry a New Testament with me and read it every day. Have 
you a Bible ? " And he took out his Testament and put it on 
the table before the priest. 

** I have my Bible on the desk in church." 

" Yes, and there it may lie. You don't read it yourself, nor 
teach the people from it, nor try to fulfil its contents in your 
life. What fruit does your Bible bear if it lies in the church ? 
Neither your own nor your people's life shows any fruit of the 
Gospel." Then Birukoff read some portions of the Sermon on 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 95 



the Mount and other parts of the New Testament which teach 
how a Christian should live. 

Then the priest got into a rage, snatched the Testament and 
flung it out of doors, exclaiming "Does the Gospel bear such 
fruit then 9 " and flung himself out by the same way. 
^ -^ -^ -K- -jf 

It is "the great Lent," with its multitude of services. Earlj^ 
and late the Pope, dressed in his ^^rjassa," a long gown with 
Avide arms, a long staff in his Land, and accompanied at a 
distance by the " psalm-singer," walks slowly and majestically 
to the church, where the bells are rung in rapid time. Behind the 
priest and his pomoststchik come troops of people of all ages 
in single file, bowing and crossing themselves as they enter the 
church. It is '^ Blag ov est shjenije" Annunciation Day. An icy 
cold wind drives the newly-fallen snow over the plains as I go 
with the crowd to church, which is filled to its utmost capacity. 
The barbaric Eastern splendour of the interior, the number of 
saints in their silver frames, the gaudy decorations, the costly 
robes of the priest, and the elaborate ritual contrast painfully 
with the malodorous motley crowd of ragged, emaciated, and 
dirty men, women, and children. These incessantly bow and 
cross themselves, and kneel before the pictures, while the priest 
walks round those of the Virgin and the Christ, swinging '' the 
holy Kadjilnitza" or censer, and the ^^psalm-singer" sings 
the Mass with a strong " gin-bass " (produced through drinking 
much gin) . Powerful as his voice is, it is drowned by the 
coughing and the screams of the babies. 

On either side of the " ilconastasis/' a large screen before the 
altar, stands a small desk within a rough wooden enclosure, 
where a man is busy all the time selling *' holy " wax candles. 
The poor usually buy the cheapest kind, at about five copecks, 
and light them before their favourite saints. A brisk business 
is carried on in this kind of merchandise, the value of which is 
greatly enhanced by the priest's " consecration." The net 
proceeds are divided betwen the clergy and the church. 

There is a strong draught through the church, yet the air 
is unspeakably foul. The whole service, with its mechanical 
ceremonies, its prayers, and chanting in a language unintelligible 



96 SpBisra Scenes in Samara. 

to the people, the emaciated and haggard appearance of the 
congregation, many of whom were disfigured by syphilis and 
small-pox, and all of whom bore the unmistakable impress of 
degradation and slavery, make the most painful impression 
on me. 

During the famine the people attend church more assiduously 
than usual, hoping by this to conciliate the Deity. For the priests 
they have neither love nor respect ; it is merely ignorance and 




A MUSHIK'S FUNERAL. 



superstition that hold them under their sway. The popes, as the 
village priests are called, belong to the " white priesthood," and 
are compelled to marry; the members of the *^ black priesthood" 
live in enforced celibacy. The popes have no salary, but have 
•ample power of deriving a good income from the compulsory 
fees for the numerous religious ceremonies. The nice parsonage 
in our village testified to better times in the past^ and the well- 
fed appearance of the priest showed that, although his income 
had been badly reduced, he had not been inconvenienced by 
starvation. Ceremonial fees vary according to circumstances ; 



Speing Scenes in Samara. 



97 



baptism of an infant costs from fifty copecks to several roubles ; 
a wedding five to twenty roubles, a funeral one to ten roubles. 
The rich pay much larger sums. Then the priests receive a 
great deal in kind. Ten times a year they make their rounds 
through the villages, when each family must contribute some- 
thing. At the great festivals he comes to hold "moleben " or 




DELIVERED BY DEATH. 



prayers in their homes, when they must give him at least 
twenty-five copecks, some pastry, ten eggs, &c. In this village 
there are four hundred homes, so he does not do so badly. 

It must not be supposed that these offerings are all given 
willingly ; on the contrary, the priest has often to threaten and 
quarrel with the peasants before he can collect them. Some- 

7 



98 Spring Scenes in Samaka. 

times the dead lie unburied for days, because their friends 
cannot pay what he asks. A baptism or wedding may be more 
easily postponed, but in the end the peasants have to give in. 
Where sectarians are numerous it is most difficult for the 
priest to get so much, but the police are on his side, and he 
can get them harassed, imprisoned, or even banished. 

Take as an illustration the following conversation between 
peasants, telling of their different priests. One narrates how,, 

in the village of F , a peasant went to the priest to arrange 

for his wedding. '^ Ten roubles," demands the priest. The 
peasant haggles about it. " Well, you shall have it for five 
then, not a copeck less." Three roubles are offered, on the 
plea of poverty, but the pope will not give way for a long time ; 
at last, however, he agrees, and on the appointed day they meet 
for the ceremony. 

The priest begins. According to Russian custom the couple 
should be conducted round the analoj or reading-desk three 
times, but the priest stops after the first round. ^^ Little 
father," says the bridegroom, '' according to law thou shouldst 
take us three times round the desk." ^'^ Three times for three 
roubles ! " exclaims the priest. '^ One is enough for thee." 

Then the bridegroom notices that the priest does not hold 
the crown over their heads, according to custom, and says, 
" Little Father, why dost thou marry us without a crown ? " 
" Wilt thou, then, have a crown also for three roubles ? Thou 
are jesting, little brother. This will do." At the end the 
priest should give the couple a little wine, but none is forth- 
coming. The peasant stretches out his hand for some, saying, 
" A little wine, little father ! " " So," shrieks the priest " thou 
wouldst have wine, too, for three roubles, thou little rascal ! " 
Nor is any given. So the edifying ceremony ends. 

The other peasants shook their heads, saying, " Voj, voj,'^' 
such a ^'•' hatusclika " (little father) . 

''With us," begins another, ''the priest is better in that 
respect ; he does not gnaw the flesh from our bones, but " 

"What then ? " 

The peasant shuts his eyes and shakes his head. 

"Does he drink?" 



Spring Scenes in Samaea. 99 

'' Drink ! Drink ! And when he gets his spells, oh ! And 
he is fearful when he gets drunk. Then he fights and 
carries on hke a mad dog. One night, not long ago, when the 
village had barely gone to rest, the large church bell began to 
ring. The whole village ^rolled out' to see where the fire 
had broken out. We all looked round, and could see nothing. 
We ran to the church steeple, and there we saw the hatuschJca 
standing, with only his shirt on, banging away with the clapper 
of the large bell. ^ Little father, what is the matter ? ' we 
cried. ' I — hie — have — hie — been fighting — hie — with the 
old woman — hie — and — hie — I want you — hie — to help me 
lick her.'" 

General laughter among the peasants. 

Sometimes the priests take revenge on peasants for low pay- 
ment or any other cause, by refusing to give children the names 
selected, and substituting others frequently of an insulting 
kind. 

Coming out of the church I wander off to the steppe to get 
a little fresh air. On my return I see at a distance a group of 
people slowly coming up the village street, and recognise a 
scene enacted every day. It is a funeral procession — not of 
Dives, with silver-covered coifin, heaped with flowers and 
carried on a catafalque by eight or ten bearers, preceded by 
priests in flowing, ornate vestments, singers and picture- 
bearers ; no, it consists only of four men bearing on their 
shoulders a coflin of rough, unpainted boards. As it 
approaches I recognise in one of the bearers a strongly-built 
mushik with regular and beautiful though now emaciated 
features, who called on the Count last night and got two 
roubles to buy a coffin. Often these poor people had no means 
even to procure a coffin for a dead relative. 

It is not merely the custom of the country that makes me 
uncover my head as these men, bowed by want and soitow, 
slowly pass on their way to the dismal cemetery on the steppe 
outside the village with the remains of their brother whom 
death has delivered from nameless misery. 

Even in the midst of starv^ation and disease there occur 



100 Spring Scenes in Samara. 

scenes tliat move to laughter. One day I came to Count 
Tolstoi's dwelling, and found one of tlie young mushih women 
employed about the place almost crazy with despair ; loudly she 
wailed and bemoaned her evil lot. I thought that surely her 
husband or some one dear to her had died, but when I asked 
what was the matter, the young Count replied : 

" Her husband got horribly lousy. She wanted to clean him 
up a little, so put his sheepskin in the oven, but the heat was 
too fierce, and the coat and all its population was burnt up ! 
When her husband discovered it he stormed, scolded, and beat 
her, so that now she is afraid to go home." 

Hinc illae lacrymae ! I had the satisfaction later of presenting 
them with a new sheepskin, on condition that he should not 
beat his wife, and she should try to keep it free from vermin. 

Another curious scene was witnessed when some good-souled 
ladies of Warsaw sent two large bales of clothes to be distri- 
buted among the needy. There were all kinds of fine raiment 
— mantles, vests, stockings, and costumes of various descriptions. 
I waited to see if there were any corsets in the lot, but evidently 
the Polish ladies thought their far-away sisters in Samara were 
not sufficiently cultured for this article of dress ! It was great 
fun to see how eagerly the peasant women and girls came 
running up with hands outstretched to get some of the finery, 
threw the silken wraps over their old sheepskins with delight, 
and in high glee bore off their treasures to their home. 

On another day there came a poor old woman in sad trouble 
to the Count. With tears running down her wrinkled cheeks 
she threw herself on her knees before him. When he had got 
her up again and encouraged her a bit, she drew out of her 
sheepskin cloak a ragged bundle, which she undid and took out 
another rag tied up in a knot ; this also she untied, and pro- 
duced a something tattered and torn almost beyond recognition, 
but which turned out to be a rouble-note. Then she told her 
story. 

" 1 am a widow from the village of X." (here she produced a 
document from the village scribe attesting the truth of her 
story), " and have a small plot of land. After my cow died of 
starvation, and we ourselves were threatened with the same 




SNOWDRIFT AT THE END OF APRIL. 




PEASANTS CUTTING THROUGH THE SNOW. 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 103 

fate, my son went to Uralsk to look for work. After some 
weeks he sent me a rouble to buy some seed. With the note 
tied up in a bit of rag I set out^ but lost it on the way, and 
only found it again after a lot of trouble and searching. A 
calf had got hold of the rag and chewed it, so that my rouble 
was all bitten to pieces. Then I went to the village authorities, 
and they told me to come to your worship. Lord Count." 
Tolstoi changed her damaged note for one for five roubles, and 
gave her besides help in other ways. 

The week before Easter we received an invitation from a 
gentleman to spend the holidays at his residence. The snow 
was still lying deep on the ground when the young Count, one 
of his helpers, and myself set out. Here and there on the hill- 
tops or on the sunny slopes it had melted in spots, and on these 
some miserable-looking cattle, amid the carcases of others of 
their kind that had succumbed, were feeding on the sparse, old 
grass. The eye rested with pleasure on these bare patches, 
looking like islands dotted in a sea of ice, formed by the 
■endless stretches of white snow, that reflected with almost 
unbearable brilliancy the intense sunlight. Overhead the lark 
was singing his beautiful song, while beneath the snow is heard 
the purling of many streams as the water rejoices in its first 
freedom from the fetters of winter. Looking westward from 
an elevation on which we stopped to enjoy the scenery, we saw 
the golden cupola of the church with the village clustering- 
round — the scene of our toils during the last month. The 
thought of the contrast between this bright and lovely spring 
morning and the unspeakable human misery that has engulfed 
us all this time, made the former seem one of Nature's most 
bitter ironies. 

Our host gave us a cordial welcome, and did all in his 
power to make our stay pleasant, giving us with open-hearted 
hospitality the best the house afforded. On the farm was a 
large number of horses, kept for the celebrated "kumiss 
treatment." Kumiss is a special preparation of mare's 
milk, considered good for certain classes of invalids ; often 
in summer-time there would be fifty patieats under treatment 
at the farm. Only Bashkirs and some other Asiatic herdsmen 



104 



Spring Scenes in Samara. 







THE KUMISS FARM. 




HEUll FALTVABEL. 



have tlie ' skill required to prepare this drink properly ; the 
Bashkirs and Tatar element was considerable in the neigh- 
bourhood. Besides these there were two other Asiatics who- 



Spring ScEiifES in Samara. 



105 





MUSHIKS WAITING FOK THE DISTRIBUTION OF SEED-COKN. 



contributed very largely to our pleasure. One was called 
''Herr Faltvabel, a camel of considerable intelligence^ who 
became a universal favourite. On his broad back we enjoyed 
short trips in the neighbourhood of the farm. He arranged 
a special entertainment for us on his own account^ when, with 



106 Spring Scenes in Samara. 

Dr. B. on liis back, lie lay down on a clear space out on the 
steppe, to which he had waded through deep snow, and 
absolutely refused to stir. At last a Tatar floundered with 
much difficulty through the drifts to the spot, and persuaded 
him to get up and return home. ^^ Jashka," the other Asian, 
was a little white ass, who speedily rivalled " Herr Faltvabel " 
in the popular esteem. I give portraits of both, taken with 
my Kodak. 

The evening of our arrival black clouds began to gather, 
and when we retired about midnight a heavy storm was raging; 
fierce gusts of wind threatened to tear the roof off the 
house, while the hail beat furiously against the windows. 
Not only was the storm without, but, in my case at least, 
within also. I had received that day a letter from Southern 
Kussia, and now oj^ened it and read, among other things, 
"^ The father of the family is banished " for being a 
sectarian. " His wife, who has been forbidden to accompany 
him, is hopelessly ill from sorrow and suffering, and her six 
children, who surround her, are starving. . . . She 
receives no relief from the Government, because she is — 
a sectarian. . . . Several families are in the same 
predicament." 

All sleep is banished. My thoughts roam everywhere. 
Back to the childhood when all was bright and joyous; in the 
heart love, hope, and faith; in the world order, justice, and 
truth. Forward to the rude awakening, to the grim realities 
of life, especially the horrors I had witnessed of late, in the 
midst of which I now was ; to the holocausts of human 
lives, the rivers of blood and tears, shed to gratify the lust 
and caprice of tyrants ; rivers that have not watered and 
fertilised the lands, but in their fierce torrent have washed 
away the fruitful soil, leaving whole regions desolate and 
bare, both in the past and to-day. Where is that law of progress 
of which we boast ? Civilisation after civilisation in the past, 
rotten with its own corruption, has been swept away by 
barbaric hordes, in their turn to rear anew the fabric of fresh 
civilisation, and in their turn also to fall before the aveng er. 
Here, to-day in Russia, are thirty-five millions of hard-working 



.Spring Scenes tn Samara. 107 

peasantry struggling against starvation and pestilence ; the 
rich continue in luxury and idleness, the Government is 
exacting the last mite from the oppressed peoj)le for 
the instruments of international murder ; the preachers 
of religion proclaim submission and self-denial, with 
reward in the next world, while they themselves live in 
affluence and grab all of this world's wealth they can, and 
while preaching the Gospel of the Cross hunt down the 
" heretics " as wild beasts. The miserable peasants have 
cried to heaven that their children may be delivered from 
starvation, but the brazen gates have remained closed. The}' 
write letters, piteous in their very illegibility, to authorities 
asking for justice, and receive no replj^, or are punished for 
their audacity in complaining ; they knock at doors that will 
not open to them, they speak to persons who will not listen. 
They understand nothing of the system of official society, 
with its forms, its laws, its etiquetce. 

On my table is a pamjDhlet containing two sermons by a 
German pastor on '^ The Famine and Our Sins." Whose sins? 
Why does the punishment fall on the innocent ? j^.re these 
peasants' sinners above all others that they should suffer and 
the oppressors go free? What have those poor orphan children 
done that they should wander by thousands over the steppes, 
starving and freezing to death, or surviving only to lead a 
life of misery and degradation ? What is their sin to merit 
so great a ^^ punishment" ? 

'^'Faithless pessimism," you exclaim, in youi- comfortable 
homes. Maybe so, but these ivere my thoughts at the time, 
however I maj^ look at things when the deep stirrings of 
emotion have passed by. Bat would it not be well to consider, 
not so much the frame of mind into which these sufferings and 
cruelties threw me, but the facts themselves ? Optimism is a 
grand thing, if you have first faced the terrible suffering 
and evil in the world ; faith is magnificent if, while com- 
prehending the depths of woe and sin, you yet can put un- 
wavering trust in God. But the optimism that is based on 
wilful ignoring of ugly facts is either callousness or 
cowardice, and the "faith" that is exerted for other people 



108 Spbing Scenes in Samara. 

in their distress without doing all in our power to help is a 
ghastlj impertinence. 

At Easter time the orthodox go to church on the evening 
before "Long Friday," and the service continues until 
after midnight on Easter Eve. That night the mushiks 
believe that the dead stir, that they can even hear them 
moving about and talking in their graves, if they lie with 
ears pressed to the ground. So they take food and vodka 
into the graveyards for the use of their buried relatives, and 
even in the terrible need of the famine this rite was not 
altogether neglected. 

Easter morn rose fine and clear ; all about us was heard the 
customary greeting, " Christos voskresje," with its reply and a 
kiss. For forty days this formula is used, not only when 
friends meet, but at the head of letters of all kinds, in business 
and on all occasions of importance, even in the collection of 
debts ! Among the educated, this and other church ceremonies 
are so neglected that the mushiks regard them as having a 
peculiar religion of their own. 

At evening the company separated ; some returned to their 
posts, others remained a few days longer at the farm. 

With the break-up of the winter, all communication on the 
steppes is interrupted, because of the swollen streams, fed by 
the melting snow. We had, in consequence, to wait a fortnight 
for our letters. 

It was time to begin the year's agriculture, but no mushiks 
were seen in the fields, except one or two who were working for 
a hulack. The others had neither seed for sowing nor horses 
for ploughing. There was seed in the public storehouses of 
the Government, about one-third of what was needed, but when 
the peasants sent to inquire of the authorities, they received no 
reply. Despairing, they appealed to the Count for aid. But 
he could at first do nothing, having no means ; fortunately, 
however, he received considerable remittances from Countess 
Tolstoi in Moscow, who sent on money collected in America 
and other places. At once he got horses and seed, and by 
working night and day, two hundred of the most needy were 
helped to sow their holdings. Large numbers left their homes 



Spring Scenes in Samara. Ill 

to look for work, but there were not many who could afford to 
hire labour. 

My stay with Count Lyeff drew to a close. It had been 
decided that when the Volga traffic was open, I should go to 
Southern Samara and Saratoff to arrange for the opening of 
free eating-rooms for the sick and convalescent. 

The evening before my departure I paid a number of farewell 
visits to friends in Patrovka. As I returned, I saw a curious 
piece of evidence of the straits to which the peasants were 
reduced. A poor mushik, with a shaggy little horse, was 
driving a plough over the land made altogether of wood. I 
found that many peasants had pawned all their implements to 
g et money to pay their taxes, or to buy food. 

There was still one visit to pay. I was up at sunrise next 
m orning, and went to the cemetery to have a last look at the 
graves of those who had died in the famine. All was quiet in 
the village, except for several cocks that were scratching on a 
dunghill before an izba, and crowing their welcome to the day. 
It seemed as if I should be able to make my little pilgrimage 
to the graves of my friends unobserved, ^ut on reaching the 
burial-ground I saw a number of peasants digging graves for 
their dead at that early hour. I took a photograph of them, 
and of the fresh graves that told of Death's winter-harvest in 
the famine-stricken village. 

It was May when I left, yet the young Count was still 
feeding twenty thousand people a day, and helping the needy 
in countless other ways beside. Almost all that summer he 
worked on, distributing the food that came through friends 
outside. Later on, twelve additional car-loads of American 
flour were sent him by the Anglo-American Committee in St. 
Petersburg. The terrible strain of the hard work and the care 
involved in directing this vast and difficult relief in Samara 
entirely broke down his health, which, I am sorry to have to 
state, has not as yet been restored in this summer of 1895. 
Truly he is one of those who have been willing, like their 
Master, to lay down his life in self-denying toil and sacrifice 
for the sake of others who can never repay him. 

I got permission to accompany a physician, sent out by the 



112 Spring Scenes in Samara. 

Governor of Samara to inquire into the sanitary condition of 
the district, on his return journey. We met at a village seven 
miles off, where I found him engaged in a four hours' dinner 
with a Government official. In high spirits they drove off in 
the latter's carriage, I following in our tarantan. Eight miles 
of fast driving brought us to a priest's house, where we were 
invited to tea and wine. The doctor and the official took leave 
in Russian fashion_, kissing each other three times, and we set 
•out on our thirty miles to the railway station, the doctor 
ensuring our punctual arrival by plying the driver with vodha. 
I was tired, and asked the doctor to get my ticket, giving him 
a ten-rouble note — the fare was six or seven roubles. As we 
got into the train he said my ticket was all right, but in one of 
the intervals of my dozing on the train, I overheard him say to 
the conductor, ^' This gentleman is sent from America with 
bread for the starving; he ought to have a free passage." 
The conductor agreed, but at Samara the doctor returned me 
— not the ten-rouble note, but my change. I had been inclined 
to agree to his request that I should get some of the American 
gifts sent to him for his relief work, but this little incident 
changed my mind. 




COUNT LYEFF TOLSTOI, JUNIOR. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A POLICY OF DEATH. 

fgnorance and Superstition Due to the Government — Repression of Scliools — 
Schools Under the Priests — An Extensive Curriculum — Attitude to 
Private Scliools — An Educated Mushil; — The Story of Sfmjanoff — 
EducatioQal Statistii'.s — A Battle of Circulars — Ignorance and Disease — 
Superstition — Officinl Folly — Practical Consequences — A Sister of the 
People — The Hospital— Ravages of Disease — Responsibilities of the 
Church and Government 

The ignorance and superstition of the Russian peasants, 
which strikes a visitor so forcibly^ may be unliesitatinglj 
a,ttributed to the deliberate policy of the Government, and not, 
to the character of the peasants themselves. It is true that 
during' the short reform period under Alexander II., in the 
■early sixties, a considerable number of well-equipped schools 
were established in connection with the zemstvos, or district 
governments. When, however, the wave of Liberal policy was 
followed by the backwash of reaction, these schools were 
gradually crippled, and under Alexander III. the nadir of 
education was reached. His attitude may be accurately 
gauged from his speech to the people on the occasion of his 
coronation — " Peasants you have been, and peasants you will 
remain ! " This sentiment was embodied soon after in a 
ukase, according to which only a small section of the people 
were to share in educational advantages, and even for these 
favoured few ^Hhe measure of instruction shall be in 
proportion to the status of the person having children to be 
educated." In pursuit of this policy the boards of education 
in Saratov and other places have resolved that " the instruction 
in schools shall be so limited as to protect the children of 
the upper classes from the intrusion of those of the poor 
and middle class." 

A further uJcase of May 15, 1891, dealt the finishing blow 



116 A Policy of Death. 

to the better kind of schools connected with the zemstvos, which 
had already been gradually starved out of all practical 
efficiency. By this decree they were handed over to the 'popes,. 
a set of ignorant and frequently drunken men who, according 
to the repeated testimony of their own bishops, have neither 
the necessary time nor ability to look after the schools. The 
consequence has been a complete transformation of popular 
education into a soul-destroying, ecclesiastical discipline, b}'' 
which the rising generation is taught to make the sign of the 
Cross, to bow before the eikons of saints, to learn by heart 
portions of the Russian liturgy, and above all " for his earthly 
welfare and eternal salvation, to regard, honour, and obey the 
Tsar and the Government as a divine and holy authority." 

I visited some of these priests' schools, so startling in their 
contrast to the district schools established under Alexander II. 
In these latter the classes were under the supervision of trained 
teachers, the walls were hung with maps, diagrams, &c., and 
there were materials for object-lessons for the younger classes. 
The school-houses I saw were ordinary peasants' cottages, and 
on the walls were merely saints' pictures, with a large portrait- 
group of the Imperial Family occupying the place of honour. 
At the age of seven or eight the children go to school to the 
porno stchniJi, a kind of curate to the priest, who is, as a rule^ 
seldom sober. The lessons consist of psalms and liturgies in 
the old Slavonic, and are taught by the priest reading the por- 
tion word by word, while the child learns it parrot fashion, 
without understanding a syllable. This kind of training is not 
compulsor}^ by law, but it is by practice. It is only " private " 
in the sense that the child's parents or guardians are permitted 
to pay for it. 

The curriculum of the district schools themselves, arranged 
by the Holy Synod, and under the immediate supervision of the 
priest, is as follows : — 

First Year. — Twelve prayers in Old Slavonic learnt by rote. 

Second Year. — The Russian version of these prayers, also by 
rote. 

Third Year. — Same as second year, with a little mental 
arithmetic on the four rules. 



A Policy of Death. 



117 



To teach tlie children to read forms no necessary part of the 
syllabus, and, as a matter of fact, the majority of children pass 
through these three years and are thoroughly illiterate at the 
end. It is only those children who push themselves forward, as it 
were, who get a knowledge of reading outside the regular course. 
The former schools used also to have libraries of serviceable 
books, which the children were allowed to take home with 
them, but now the only books allowed are such as belong to the 
Orthodox training, liturgies, legends of saints, &c. When 




SCHOOL CHILDREN AT PLAT. 



the schools are closed, the children soon forget the little know- 
ledge they have acquired. They take their share of the hard 
work in the fields, &c., and have no books at home by which 
to keep up their scholarship (?). 

Nor are private schools allowed to supply the deficiencies of 
the national system. A number of these had been established 
by private beneficence in Siberia — in Tomsk, Omsk, Krasnoy- 
arsk, Irkutsk, and Jenesseisk— and were making good progress. 
They were delared by a prominent Government newspaper 
[Graschdanin, Oct. 9, 1889) to be of revolutionary tendencies ; 



118 A Policy of Death. 



the local authorities received the hint to hamper them as m.iich as 
possible, with the result that they have now come under the con- 
trol of the purest obscurantism. This device is a favourite one 
with the Government, and most effectual. A decree forbidding 
the establishment of any private school without special consent 
of the priests, and a hint to these gentlemen not to give it when 
asked, has proved the most easy and thorough method of pre- 
venting the peasants from getting education that could be 
invented. 

I did, however, meet a young nmshil- of really good education . 
Not only could he read and write, but he had read to some 
purpose, and had acquired considerable information concerning 
other lands. When I spoke of America and the help sent from 
there to the starving peasants, he said, with tears in his eyes^ 
" I love the republic." He had also taught himself arithmetic, 
and was now practising drawing, using the pictures in a book 
he had as copies. I found out the reason of his unusual 
acquirements : he had been brought up in Siberia, and had 
learnt from the educated political exiles. Other ardent spirits, 
thirsting for the light of truth, receive help from the sectaries, 
who include in their number almost all who have any education 
at all among the peasants. This young man had got his 
knowledge in Siberia, and it was pretty certain to be the means- 
of sending him back there. 

To say that it was a crime in the eyes of Government to ac- 
quire a better education than is common in one's own class might 
seem an exaggeration if -it were not amply proved by many 
instances. Here is one. In the government of Ufa, a man 
named Semjanoff held a position in the mines. He was the^ 
son of a poor miner, but by his exceptional industry and self- 
devotion had passed through all seven classes at the gymnasium,, 
and, consequently, obtained a fairly good post in the direction 
of the mines. His superior never had any fault to find with 
him in any way, and all was going well, when there was a change 
of governors in the province. The new governor, a man after- 
Pobiedanostseff's own heart, at once sent for Semjanoff. 

"Now, you rascal, what are you doing here? " he roared, as> 
soon as Semjanoff entered the room. 



A Policy of Death. IIO* 

" I beg- your pardon, I " began the startled man. 

'^ What have you to do with *beg your pardon,' you scum ? " 
cried the governor, without allowing him to speak. 

" Why do you insult me like this ? " exclaimed Semjanoff. 

^' On my word, just listen to him," fumed the governor. *' To 
the guard with him, put him in fetters ! I'll teach you ! Three 
days of gaol for the fellow ! " 

" But he is a man of education," whispered the former 
governor, who was present. 

" So he has had an education, has he ? Then he shall have 
three iveeJcs ! I always give double or treble to educated 
folks ! I'll soon show you rascals how I'll deal with you ! " 

Semjanoff lost his position, and was degraded to the rank of 
simple clerk. Soon after he was sent with a sealed order to 
the chief of the police. The order ran " Give the bearer fifty 
lashes." It was performed with punctuality and despatch. 
Two days later he was sent with the same order, with the same 
result. It then became the established rule for this unfortu- 
nate man to take an order to the police and be flogged three 
times a-week. 

Brought at length to the verge of insanity, so that he was 
hardly responsible for his actions, he tried once to escape, but 
was soon brought back, and received more of the same treat- 
ment. A second attempt was attended by like results, and at 
last nature took her revenge, and he became completely insane. 
Even then his persecutors were not satisfied. ^^They lashed 
the poor lunatic with the knout, just as they had flogged the 
sane man," says our authority, and adds "^ there are legions 
of Semjanoffs here.""^ What was the cause of all this ghastly 
brutality ? There was not the slightest fault to be found with 
him, as commonly understood. But he had committed an 
unpardonable offence : he had set the bad example of getting 
an education superior to that of the class from which he 
sprang. 

A few figures, taken from official sources, and referring to 
the first years of the present decade, will throw considerable 
light on this matter of popular education in Russia. About 
*" Kama und Ural " by Nemirovitch-Wantschenko (1890). 



120 A Policy of Death. 

200^000 recruits are yearly enlisted in the army, and of these 
only about 50^000 can read. Among the peasants proper the 
percentage of illiterates rises to 95 per cent. ! In some parts, 
e.g., the district of Novorzhevsk, Kholm, and Tovopetz, in the 
neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, there is only one school to 
each 200 villages. In these places one finds only from 5 down 
to 1 per cent, of children of school age in the schools in con- 
sequence of deficient school space. If Russia had the same 
proportion as her neighbour Sweden, for example, she would 
have about 250,000 schools, while she actually has only 18,000. 

Again, take Russia's enormous budget of 1,000,000,000 
roubles ; of this only 500,000 are devoted to popular educa- 
tion. That is one-eleventh part of what is devoted to the 
maintenance of the Imperial Court ; one six-hundredth part 
of the cost of the army, and one two-thousandth part of the 
whole. At about the same time Great Britain was spending 
about £9,000,000 for elementary education, &c., with a 
population little more than a third that of Eussia. Moreover, 
about two-thirds of this paltry sum of 500,000 roubles goes in 
salaries of inspectors. 

In fact, Eussia stands behind China in point of popular 
education, for in the latter country 2 '6 per cent, of the popula- 
tion goes to school, in the former only 2-3 per cent. 

In the government of Cherson, by a recent ukase of the 
Holy Synod, Stundist peasants are plainly forbidden to allow 
their children to be taught to read, and other districts are said 
to be threatened with the same treatment because of the 
spread of heresy within their borders. Truly the present Eussian 
Government may fairly be classed among the powers of 
darkness. 

Not long ago the leaders of the Liberal party sent out 
circulars to the local authorities in order to ascertain the exact 
facts about education in Eussia, or as nearly exact as the 
character of the said local authorities would allow. This 
would have given too intense a light for the bat-like vision of 
the Holy Synod. Pobiedanostseff at once sent his circular, too, 
to the same authorities, reminding them that they were under 
no obligation to reply to these questions, and this was followed 



A Policy of Death. 123 

up by a third from the Minister of the Interior absolutely 
forbidding any answer being sent. At the same time 
Pobied anostseff appropriated a sum of money devoted to 
popular education and placed it in the hands of a *^ committee" 
with ijurely arhitrary poivers. 

A sharp struggle is going on at the present time in Siberia, 
where the Liberal party is somewhat stronger, between the 
friends of education and the priests, but, of course, the Govern- 
ment is siding with the latter. 

One great and wide-reaching consequence of this priest- 
ridden " education " is the ignorance and superstition in all 
sanitary matters. Talk to a peasant about the connection 
between dirt and disease, the destruction of forests and bad 
seasons, and he will not understand what you are driving at. 
For instance, I once told some peasants who were using dirty 
water for drinking purposes, that they were drinking disease 
and perhaps death. They simply gaped at me. Then I tried 
them on another tack and said, *' No doubt the famine and 
the plague have fallen on you because you 'have neglected to 
pray to God and the saints." " Yes, Lord have mercy upon 
us," they cried in chorus, crossing themselves, " we have not 
worshipped God and the saints devoutly enough ; that is the 
cause of all our troubles ! " 

To the Orthodox famine and pestilence are not effects of 
causes, but are sent by God or the devil either to punish or 
torment them. To get rid of them one must first try redoubled 
piety, prayers, cross processions in the field, pilgrimages, &c. 
If that is no good they try the other shop, and consult their 
sorcerers about means to pacify or outwit the powers of evil. 
Many of these sorcerers are maintained by communities, and are 
far more powerful than the priests. If neither piety nor black 
magic is of use, there is nothing farther to be done. Any pre- 
cautions of man's own devising are not only useless but 
positivel}^ dangerous, since they may irritate still further God 
or the devil who sent the plague upon the land. 

Whether the authorities themselves really believe the same 
things, or simply use the superstition as a means of holding 
the peasants in deeper subjection, it is difficult to say. At any 



124 A Policy op Death. 

rate, they play their part exceedingly well, and give no sign 
that they have any faith in pure water and cleanliness. While 
the people were dying by the tens of thousands, the officials, 
who were careful not to set their sacred feet within the pre- 
cincts of a plague-stricken village, busied themselves with 
devising and issuing most sapient orders by which to counter- 
act the ravages of hunger and disease. While I was in 
Samara the children were forbidden to play in the streets or 
fields so as not to offend the Great Powers. The poor little 
starving mites were truly in no mood for play. Probably it 
was for the same cause that parents of the Orthodox faith 
were forbidden to give their children Jewish names, and vice 
versa, and all peasants were commanded to uncover their heads 
before every one of higher rank, on pain of flogging and 
imprisonment. 

As a consequence there is absolutely no sanitation in most 
Tillages, and when the thaw came after the terrible winter our 
worst fears were realised. The village streets were turned into 
<3anals, along which flowed streams of dirty, yellowish-green 
water, setting the heaps of excrement, from men and beasts, 
that had accumulated through the winter, in a ferment. From 
these streams the women got their water for drinking, cooking, 
.&c., and from the heaps of refuse themselves there [rose con- 
tinual vapours, spreading in the atmosphere ; an incense that 
might fitly rise in worship of the great powers enthroned at 
Petersburg. 

Look at this village street awhile. Here comes one of the 
■doctors belonging to the expedition I have mentioned — not sent 
out by the Government. He is riding on a horse whose legs 
sink deep into the muck and filth. Soon after comes one of the 
" sisters," shod with high boots, one hand engaged in holding 
up her skirts, the other carrying medicine and food for the 
patients ; from izha to izha she goes on her errand of mercy, 
wading through the liquid mud. 

We will go with her awhile on her rounds, approaching her 
with deepest respect. She belongs to no religious order ; there 
is nothing of the nun or " saint " about her. She is of high 
rank, and has received a superior education. It is the inward 



A Policy of Death. 12& 

prompting of her own nature that has impelled her, like so 
many other young ladies of gentle nurture, to " go to the 
people," and risk her health and life in tending her sufferings 
fellows. There is nothing theatrical, no touch of the stage 
heroine about her. Like her other sisters, she seems perfectly 
unconscious both of the dangers to which she is exposed, and 
of anything heroic in her occupation. It is the most natural 
thing in the world to help her needy neighbours. 

We go first to the temporary typhus hospital — a peasant's 
cottage fitted up for the purpose. Above the door is the grim 
inscription : " No admittance ! Infectious diseases ! " Outside 
is a group of men and women waiting for news of their 
relatives, stricken by *' the sickness," as the peasants call all 
kinds of disease. Two rows of beds are ranged along the 
length and breadth of the cottage, filled with patients of both 
sexes, about thirty in number. Sighs, groans, rapid breathing,, 
prayers, delirious ravings fill the air, and though everything is 
scrupulously clean, it is impossible to keep the air pure in an 
unventilated izha full of typhus patients. 

After this we visit some of the houses where patients are 
lying ill — and it is a difficult matter to find a place where they 
are not. Some of these cottages have great pools of water on 
the earthen floor, making it simply a mudflat, but here, too,. 
are fever- stricken patients. In one cottage we visit one of the 
doctors, who has himself fallen a victim to the spotted typhus. 

The members of the expedition told me that the state 
of things throughout the villages was frightful. Prince 
Dolgorukov himself came across a family of nine members, 
all doivn with disease, Tuostly slotted typhus. It was simply 
impossible to carry out any method of isolation. One doctor 
reported 351 cases, of which 155 were typhus, in a few days* 
In the village of Gavriulki half the population was down, and 
with the inset of the thaw matters were growing rapidly 
worse. 

All this was simply the result of the Government's policy of 
keeping the peasants in ignorance and superstition. The 
pestilence was the result of the famine and the insanitary 
conditions of the villages. Of these the last is directly trace- 



126 A Policy of Death. 

able to the mischievous teaching of the priests, made clear 
ftbove, that ecclesiastical jugglery, and not common sense, is 
the remedy for disease. As for the former, the example of the 
Mennonites, who, in the severest times of famine, not only 
escaped suffering themselves hut v\^ere able to give large help 
to others, clearly proves that the famine was not the effect of 
bad seasons, but of the wicked exploitation of the mass of the 
people by the officials and ^^ upper classes." For all these evils 
the Court of Petersburg and the Holy Synod are directly 
responsible ; thej^ stand guilty of the murder of the bodies and 
souls of millions of their fellow men. 



CHAPTER yill. 

A DAY IN A FAMmE-STRICKEN YILLA^GE. 

(Specially contkibuted by P. von Birukoff.) 

Early Dawn — Starved Horses — Applicants for Relief — A Terrible Story — 
In the Eatinsf Eoom — Simplicity of Huiuaa Wants — A Hidden Izha—A. 
Scorbuiine Farming — More Applicants — Weariness and Its Effects — A 
Tangle of Thoughts. 

It is a fresh spring morning. The sun is not yet risen, but 
the " morgenroth" stretches over half the sky. I go out into 
the streets to breathe the pure morning air. There is a breeze 
springing up from the east, and the village folk are 
beginning to stir. As the peasant women light the fires in 
their ovens slender columns of smoke ascend. The church 
bells are ringing for matins, and a number of old men and 
women are going, single file, into the church. Half-wakened, 
uncombed mws/ti^-youths crawl slowh'^ from the low izhas to 
harness the horses and fetch water. From other huts come 
peasant men and women with yokes on their shoulders. 

The earth is hard in the morning frost. From a distance 
comes the ring of a horse's hoofs striking the frozen ground. 
It is most likely someone ridin g out on the steppes to relieve 
the horsekeeper, who has been tending the village horses on 
the hills where the snow has melted, and the poor beasts 
munch the sparse and short stubble left from last year's 
harvest, or the dried old grassroots. " They may find some- 
thing," think the musJiiks ; so they keep one horse at home, 
to fetch water and for other household purposes, while they 
take it in turns to watch the others out on the steppes. How- 
ever poor the feeding is out there it is better than at home, 
where everything is devoured, even to the rotten straw on the 
roofs of the outhouses, and in many places of the izhas also. 



128 



A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 



The sun's rays now break forth from behind a distant hill, 
illuming with its golden touch first the wreaths of smoke, 
then the housetops, and gradually spreading over all the 
village, throwing long blue shadows behind the buildings, 
while the snowfields, blinding in their intense whiteness, 
glitter as with diamonds. Now the smell of burning "^ hisjack " 
(fuel made from manure and straw) from the ovens is borne 
upon the breeze. Day has come. 







CATTLE GRAZING ON THE STEPPE. 



I return home, and sit down to the perusal of lists and 
accounts in connection with the different branches of our relief 
work among the starving folk. The most pressing need of the 
day is for seedcorn. The people begin to bring their different 
wants. A peasant enters, makes the usual sign of the cross 
and bows as he turns to the " holy corner." 

"What do you want?" 

*' To see your grace." 

" What is your need ? " 

" Please put down my name for sowing-corn." 



A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 129 

" But will you not get it from the official committee ? " 
*^I have no horse, little father. They gave me no rye in the 
autumn, and I could not sow. They frighten me by saying I 
shall get nothing. What shall I do — perish ? We are eight 
in family. Don't forsake me, little kormiletz " (one who gives 
food), adds the peasant, with quivering voice. I see him sink 
upon his knees. I get him up with difficulty, inquire into his 
case, write down his need, and send him away. 

The same moment comes another peasant with rolling gait, 
clumsy, rough, pale, and exhausted. 

'^ I come to your worthiness — I beg your pardon ; I don't 
know by what title to address you — to ask your grace for 
seedcorn." 

"^ Do you get anything from the committee ? " 

'''Tour worship, what can I get from that quarter? We 
are seven in family ; my wife, four girls, and the boy one year 
old, who is not yet registered on the committee's books, and I 
hear they are to give two pud (80 pounds) for each ' male soul.* 
So I shall only get two pud. How can I keep my family on 
that ? Everything is sold and eaten up. I have no horse nor 
cow. I have hired myself out to a rich peasant to plough his 
field, and for this I shall plough my own little plot with his 
oxen, but I have no seed to sow with." I write his name on 
the list for further consideration. 

A fresh applicant enters. He holds himself upright like a 
soldier, looks with a frightened and vacant stare before him, 
with one hand at his side in military fashion, while the other 
holds his cap. 

" What have you to say ? " 

" I come to your high nobility to ask for " 

"Seed-corn?" 

'^ Just so, your high nobility, because our family is — so to 
speak — large ; and because I served as a soldier after — so to 
speak — we had been on the other side of the Danube." 

'^ How much do you get from the Zemstvo ? " I interrupt him. 

" I am not aware, your high nobility, because when they 
sent me on military service my wife did not understand how to 
obtain help from the Government for her sustenance " — and for 

9 



130 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 



a long- time lie tries to use the most difficult words iu the hope 
of winning mj favour. I write down his name and dismiss 
him. 

A woman comes in sobbing. " Mj little father — I come to 

jou " 

" What do you want ? " 

'^'M.j husband is very ill — his body is beginning- to swell — he 
cannot climb down from the oven. Yesterday I heard that 
your grace gives medicine. Help us, little father^ for Christ's 
sake ! I have tried everything already ; I have covered him 
with cow-dung, given him cherry-balsam, sprinkled him with 
holy water. Some time ago, little father, I had a visit 
from the monks of Athon monastery, who went through the 
villages with holy pictures, and I begged a small bottle of holy 
water from them. I got half a Tnera of rye from them, hardly 
worth a thank-you, but nothing is any good." 
" "Where do you live ? " 

" Little father, I live near the small stream, in the narrow 
lane, the third hut. First, there is an izba, with a board roof, 
then a wattled fence, and our little zemlianJca (earthen hut), 
with a small window towards the yard, very poor. Come, little 
good-giver." 

I promise I will, and enter her name. 
Then come several others, each with a special request. 
I go for a while to get tea with my landlady, and then go out. 
The sun is already high, and it is nearly noon. The frozen 
earth has thawed, small brooklets are purling along, beginning 
their day's work, carrying the dirty, melted snow to larger 
streams, which here and there are making their way beneath 
the snow. The pools in the village streets are still sheeted 
with thin layers of ice, with small openings here and there from 
which cracks radiate in all directions. I walk by the side of a wide 
brook that rushes down a hill until it loses itself in a pool ; this 
has already overflowed its banks, over which it foams along in 
a small cataract. Across it are seen two small huts, and beyond 
the boundless steppe, rising with gentle slope until in the far 
distance it meets the infinite heavens. As I gaze over the plains 
I discover some black spots moving. Looking more closely I see 



A Day ix a Famine-Stricken Village. 131 

that they are people, but what they are doing out there in the 
deep snow I cannot understand. I approach an isha, where two 
peasant women have stopped on their way to fetch water. 
They seem to have forgotten their errand, and have put their 
yokes and buckets on the ground, while with expressive 
gestures, pointing out on the steppes, they are telling each 
■other some story. I draw near and ask what is going on out on 
the steppe. 

" They are looking for him." 

" Which him ? " 

'^' Jegor Michaelovitch, of course." 

" What Jegor Michaelovitch ? " 

'^'Why, Jegor Michaelovitch Schupikoff who lives in the 
roofless cottage at the end of the street. Do you know 
Lukeria Ivanovna ? Well, his brother is her godfather — they 
have been sponsors together at the psalm-singer's, and it is that 
■child that is dead ; it would have been of the same age as my 
Vasjutka, only it was dark-haired and mine is fair." 

^'^ Well, what has happened to Jegor Michaelovitch? " 

Then the woman tells of a terrible accident. Jegor 
Schupikoff, a peasant with a family, who had been reduced to 
the greatest misery, and had sold and eaten up his horse, and 
fed his last cow with everything that the not-too-particular 
stomach of a Russian cow can digest down to the rotten straw 
of his cottage roof, had gone to his prosperous brother to 
borrow a load of straw. The brother had refused. The 
peasant came home crying, sat down to think awhile, talked it 
over with his wife, and as a last resort decided to go out on 
the steppe and try to dig out of the snow some remains of 
haystacks. 

There were still three hours before sunset. " I shall go and 
try," he said. "Perhaps I may scrape together a small armful. 
It will last a couple of days, and then I will trust for what God 
gives." 

Taking a rope and spade he set out. Towards evening a 
storm came on and it grew dark. His wife got a light and put 
a little food on the table for supper, expecting every moment 
that her husband would return with fodder for the cow. She 



132 A Day in a FAMiNE-STEicKEisr Village. 

waited on ; the children ate their thin water-soup and bread. 
All night she sat up until the morning broke. Her heart began 
to ache, but still she thought, " Perhaps he will come." 

In the morning her neighbours came with wailing and 
lamentation to console her, but made her only more sorrowful. 
Yet she still thought, " Perhaps he has wandered too far, gone 
to another village, and was afraid to return home at night. 
Maybe he will return about noon, or he will come with some of 
the peasants to the village — it is market day to-day." 

People came from all neighbouring villages, but he was not 
among them, nor had any one heard of him. She had at last 
to acknowledge the terrible fact that Jegor was lost. 

So another day passed ; a snowstorm raged through the 
night. Towards morning the storm ceased, the sky cleared, 
and the starosta sent a number of peasants out on the steppe ta 
search for the lost man. 

Full of sad thoughts aroused by this story I go on my way. 
The noon bell is ringing. I turn my steps to the izha in which' 
one of the five free eating-rooms is established. As I enter I 
hear the molitva (grace) being sung, and as the door opens_^ 
I catch the words, " Thou precious treasure and giver of life, 
come and dwell within us." The last word is slowly sung as 
I come in, and I feel somewhat soothed. 

The guests salute each other, take their spoons, and sit down 
at three tables, set along the walls of the izba at right angles 
to each other. There are only forty persons present. The 
servers pour the soup into the large wooden bowls, and distri- 
bute equal-sized pieces of bread to each guest. As I look at 
them a strange feeling comes over me. On the faces of most 
I see satisfaction ; in one corner is heard subdued laughing 
and jesting. All sit down in quiet orderliness and begin to eat. 
Within the izha was a spirit of content ; no heartrending wail- 
ing that betrayed hopeless want. 

"Here is no famine," I said to myself. '^^Is it such a simple 
thing to satisfy the wants of men, to give them a piece of bread 
and a bowl of warm soup — is this all ? Can it possibly be so 
simple ? A horse needs 301b., and a man 21b. of bread and 
warm soup, and all are happy ! Then why do we not make 



A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 133 

every one liappy ? Why is there so much suffering ? " And 
thoughts crowd one upon another,, like links of a chain, through 
my brain, carrying me far away. 

I say '^' simple " ; is it really so simple ? I rememDer a 
story, read long ago when a boy, of a teacher asking if any 
one knew where salt was obtained. All were silent, till a little 
girl stood up and said, " I know." " Where, then ? " asked 
the teacher, not expecting, though he had asked the question, 
that any child could answer it correctly. '' They buy it at the 
shop," said the girl, perfectly convinced that nothing could be 
more simple. " What can be simpler ? " she thought ; "^ to get 
salt, when the jar is empty, one has only to throw a handker- 
chief over the head, get a penny from mother, run to the shop, 
and one has salt again." She does not think of the intricate 
process of procuring the salt; or the still more intricate process 
of transporting it to the shop, and, most intricate of all, 
getting the penny with which to buy it. 

All this I remember, and begin to understand how intricate 
also is the process by which 21b. of bread and warm soup come 
to the mouth of a starving man. Long rows of carts, freight 
trains, Vendrich*, flour merchants, &c., rush through my 
imagination. 

But what seemed to me a moment has evidently been 
minutes to others, and when my attention is recalled to present 
facts, I notice an expression of curiosity on the faces of all 
present, as if expecting me to speak, and wondering why I 
was silent. The manager of the kitchen has been holding out 
a spoon for a good while, for me to taste the soup. I make 
haste to do so, say something meaningless, and, spite of my 
strange behaviour, go out of the izba with a vague feeling of 
satisfaction and consciousness of an effort that has been 
crowned with some success. 

I return home to dinner. Several peasants are already 
gathered there. I inquire into their needs, write down their 
names, and dismiss them. In the afternoon I go out once more, 
and recollect the woman with the sick husband. I make for 
her home, and, with great difficulty, try to find her earth-hut 
* The railroad inspector, since dismissed. 



134 A Day in a Famine-Steicken Village. 

from her somewhat mixed description. At last I am. clearlj at 
the lane spoken of. The hut must be there, as I think^ but 
beyond the fence I see only a snowdrift, darkened a little under- 
the warmth of the spring sun ; further out on the steppe are- 
some outhouses and heaps of " JcisjacJc " ; it is evidently noi 
here. '' I must have taken the wrong lane," I say to myself,^ 
and go back to the main street to get information. At the 
corner a mushiJi is sitting at his door, and I apply to him. 

" Where do the Koroljoffs live ? " " KoroljofPs ? " " Yes.'*" 
" Aah,'" he drawls out, and points down the lane from which 
I had just come. Without hope of further information from 
that quarter I turn back down the lane. 

Out of the gate of the first izba a little girl is running, but, 
seeing me, she hides behind it. I go into the yard after her ;; 
she looks at me with a shy glance, but does not hide again. I 
see that timidity has changed to curiosity. 

"Do you know where the Koroljoffs live? " I ask. 

The little girl looks at me attentively for a moment, and 
then says " Come," beckoning and running down the street in 
the direction of the snowdrift, where I had been already. I 
follow her. She turns round the drift and disaj^pears, as if 
swallowed up by the earth. I also turn, and to my great 
surprise find an opening in the drift, at the end of which is the 
door. 

Down the opening I go, and find that the drift is really the 
clay hut buried in snow ; in this the family Koroljoff lives, 
eight persons. Stooping down, I creep through the low door^ 
and enter the hut. A damp and suffocating air, polluted with 
the stench from the excreta of a sick person, not yet removed,, 
meet me, so that I am near fainting. A few rays of light 
struggle with difficulty through a small window, for which an 
opening has been dug in the snow. The dim light prevents my 
seeing things inside the hut, but by an effort I get gradually 
used to the darkness. 

The woman who had come to me is at the oven, busy with a 
stone jar in her hand. Behind her two little children, covered 
with rags, pale and dirty, are sitting on a bench, sucking a 
hard crust. In another corner something is lying on a bench,, 



A Day isr a Famine- Stricken Village. 135 



covered with, a battered sheepskin cloak. A little girl, about 
ten years old, sits at the side, nursing a small child. 

" Where is your husband P " I ask, after greeting. 

" On the oven, little father. He will come dowW by-and- 
by." 

^'^ And who is that lying sick on the bench over there." 

'^ It is a young girl. She has been ill a long time — it does 
not matter ; perhaps God will take her away. We dare not 
trouble you with her. But that my husband is lying sick — 
what shall we do without him ? " The woman burst into sobs, 
wiping her eyes with her apron. 

At the same time the sick man comes scrambling down from 
the oven, moaning as he totters with great difficulty to the 
bench, and by the aid of his wife sits down by the table, resting 
his head on both his hands so that he almost lies across it. His 
swollen and pallid face shows extreme weakness. I ask about his 
illness. " Sick — all — through," he says, pausing between each 
word. ^'^ First my limbs ached — my gums pained me — my 
whole body began to swell." 

Here is a bad case of scorbutus. I approach the sick girl on 
the bench to look at her legs. Blue spots on the calves, under 
the knees, and on the soles of the feet — here, too, scorbutus. 

" How about the little ones, are they well? " 

^^ Yes, pretty well; they only complain of pain in the gums, 
which bleed. I have a bigger boy, who is out begging; he is 
weU." 

^' How have you got into such a bad plight ? What do you 
eat ? Do you get anything from the committee ? " 

a "vVg ggt something, little father, but it is not enough. It 
was too little from the first. Then we borrowed. When we 
got more from the committee we had first to pay back what we 
had borrowed, so that there remained still less than before. 
The first week of the month we have enough to still our hunger, 
but the other weeks we have to starve. My husband is counted 
among the '^' rabotniki,"* and for the little ones they give 
nothing. What have we not eaten ! We dug clay, which we 

* " Labourers " — i.e., such as were considered able to work, and did not get 
help from the Governirent. 



136 A Day in a Famine-Stricken Village. 

mixed with a little flour, but all kinds of clay are not suitable. 
One kind stops hunger a little, but once when we tried another 
sort our stomachs swelled, and we recovered with much 
difficuHy." 

I listen to this story in silence. What can I say? I, who 
am satisfied with nourishing food, what can I say to these 
people, who have been reduced to such a condition that they 
discriminate between two kinds of clay — eatable and non- 
eatable P 

I go out into the fresh air, which I inhale in deep draughts. 
I feel as if my body, unaccustomed to this polluted, suffocating 
atmosphere, was poisoned ; yet in this air a whole family is 
living and growing up ! I know, too, that there are many such 
families ; I have seen numbers of them myself. I recognise a 
fresh need, developing a new branch of relief work necessary — 
to fight th«e scorbutus. In my mind rise combinations of more 
eating rooms and nourishing food. So pondering I make my 
way home. 

It is growing late. The impressions of the day are surging 
up in my brain. With a certain feeling of satisfaction I begin 
to think of rest. But the time for that is not yet come. 
Approaching the house I see at the door of my room a group of 
23easant men and women who have clearly been waiting some 
time, as some of them have sat down on stones outside. With 
humiliation I detect in myself a feeling of antipathy to these 
people who come and spoil my plans of rest. I have no 
courage to turn them away, and begin mechanically to inquire 
into their needs. I do not succeed, and begin to get impatient. 
Ten or fifteen peasants stand before me, each with one or 
more requests. Either because there are too many of them, 
or because I am tired out, I am no longer able to recognise in 
each a human being with his or her own personal dignity ; I 
see only numhers of men who are expecting something from 
me that is either difficult or unpleasant. 

According to my habit of trying to meet the requests of my 
fellows, I will not at once send them away, but choose a middle 
course — something absurd, in the usefulness of which I do not 
myself believe. I begin to make out a lisb, write down their 



A Day in a Famine-Stkicken Village. 139 

names and those of their families, jot down some remarks and 
dismiss them, dissatisfied, of course. Yet they bow, thank me 
for my sympathy, make some further requests and finally go. 
I breathe more freely. But suddenly a woman leaves the 
retreating group, comes back to me, bows low, and with sobs 
and cries begins a long story about the misfortune that has 
overtaken them. I try to listen, but soon lose my patience, 
and ask^ in a stern tone, " What do you want ? " She tells me. 
I then find that it is already written down. "With a sharp 
answer I show my displeasure, turn from her impatiently, go 
out and slam the door behind me. I am ashamed of myself. 
I walk to and fro, sit down and get up and sit down again ; 
look vaguely at the papers on the table, and with much trouble 
compose my excited nerves. 

I go to my landlady ; she has the boiling samovar all ready, 
and the sight of it soothes my disturbed mind, but the same 
thoughts haunt me all through the meal, and afterwards, when, 
alone in my room, I put my papers in order and prepare for 
rest. The same thoughts, sometimes bright, sometimes 
gloomy, but always the same subject. What must be done "? 
How help, and what will be the result ? Will there be another 
year like this ? Sometimes, as if in the magic- lantern, the 
pictures change; my thoughts wander off to my faraway home, 
and I begin to converse with my dear ones ; these images vanish, 
and again my brain is busy with the questions of the dsij. 

Before retiring to rest I again go out. It is dark and 
bitingly cold. The village is asleep, and overhead the dark 
blue heavens sparkle with myriads of stars ; all is quiet^ 
harmonious, majestic, beautiful. Where are all the sufferings? 
Why is it not on earth as it is up yonder ? We are only an 
insignificant part of this beautiful, harmonious nature. Can 
all the parts be of one nature ? How can such a crowd of 
sufferings come from out a beautiful whole? Or are there, 
perhaps, no sufferings ? Do they exist only in our conscious- 
ness ? 

I return to my room, throw myself on my bed, and deep and 
heavy sleep breaks off the current of my thoughts. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ON THE VOLGA. 

The Stea.m.ev Puschhin — Soldiers' Songs — Peasants "Hunting" — A Colporteur 
— British and Foreign Bible Society — Influence of the Bible — A. Peasant's 
Story of His Couversion — A " Cross Procession '" — The Water Road to 
Exile — The City of Kasan — Tartars — Nishni Novojorod — A Sapient 
Governor — A Liberal Professor of Theology — The Advantages of Ortho- 
doxy — Feast Days in Russia — An Intelligent Official. 

Whejst I stepped on board the magnificent steamer Puschhin, 
that was to take me a five days' journey up the Volga from 
Saratov to Nishni Novgorod, I could easily have imagined 
m.y self on board an American steamer on the Hudson or the 
Mississippi. But this first impression was soon dispelled ; the 
ugly saints' pictures hanging in the saloon, and the ragged, 
miserable-looking beings in the steerage reminded me forcibly 
that I was not in America. 

A large number of soldiers were on board, and on the first 
two days they enlivened our passage with singing, lasting late 
into the night. Their strikingly original folk-songs, or rounds, 
were deeply impressive. Their weird strains, passing from 
tender melancholy into outbursts of almost wild savagery, 
seemed the musical expression both of the national character 
and the Nature-spirit of the country. In the transition from 
the softest pianissimo through crescendo to the wildest fortissimo, 
mingled with sharp whistling and shouting, and again through 
diminuendo until they died away in almost inaudible tones, one 
could hear the winds of the steppes rising from gentlest 
breezes to raging storms, or the soft rustle of the wind in the 
deep and sombre forests growing into the fierce gale that 
sways the tall crowns of the strongest pines, whistles through 
the branches of the birch trees, and again subsides in softest 
murmurs. 

Eor the first part of the journey the weather is warm, and 



On the Volga. 141 



all the passengers are out in tlie open, forming many a pic- 
turesque group. Let us walk round the lower deck, among 
the steerage passengers. The wind has free play, but the 
smell is very " thick." We are at once surrounded by a crowd 
of peasants, clamouring in chorus for bread. We buy some 
for them, and proceed on our tour. Behind a barrel, one of 
the ship's crew is sitting, singing a jovial song, with a fat and 
buxom lass in his lap. Further on, two small groups are on 
their knees, round some object spread on the deck. What are 
they doing? Praying? No. A nearer approach shows that 
they are peasants — hunting. They have laid out their sheep- 
skin coats with the wool towards the sun, to entice the 
numerous inhabitants out of their remoter haunts into the 
light and warmth ; when the unwary population, not suspecting 
any evil, migrate to the outer regions merciless hands pounce 
down and hurl the victims into Volga's depths. So intent on 
their hunting are the peasants that they do not utter a sound, 
or pay the slightest attention to the ring of spectators around 
them. When will all the Russian peasants take to this 
excellent hunting business, and clear out all the vermin that 
are eating into their very bones ? 

Leaving them to their engrossing business and going 
forward, we see a decently clad young man, of s^^mpathetic 
appearance, distributing New Testaments among the peasants, 
who receive them with bowed heads, making the while the sign 
of the cross. He is a colporteur in the service of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society, which has been and still is doing a 
grand work in Eussia. It reflects some credit on the Russian 
Church that the circulation of the Bible has been allowed in 
the Orthodox empire, however limited. The clergy have often 
been antagonistic to Bible distribution, and several depots 
have been closed, but still the work goes on. It was in 1812 
that the Russian branch of the British and Foreign Bible 
Society was established, through the untiring exertions of the 
English clergymen Paterson, Pinkerton, and Henderson. At 
first a parallel edition of the !N"ew Testament in Russian and 
Slavonic was distributed, then from 1818 an entirely Russian 
translation, while in 1824 the New Testament was issued in 



142 On the Volga. 

no less tlian forty-one different languages, to meet tlie needs 
of the many half -wild races in the distant parts of this vast 
empire. Two years later, the Eussian branch was suppressed 
by Nicholas I., on the ground that it was " a revolutionary 
society, which aimed at subverting thrones, churches, law, 
order, and religion, throughout the whole world, with the 
object of establishing a universal republic." All its property 
was confiscated and the new translations put under lock and 
key. The distribution of the New Testament was allowed only 
under most hampering regulations. The Society sprang up 
again under Alexander II. under the modest title, " Society for 
the Promotion of Moral and Religious Reading," which, in its 
turn, was suppressed in 1884 by Alexander III. The British 
and Foreign Bible Society has, however, received permission to 
distribute the New Testament, under the control of the Holy 
Synod, but not the Old, unless bound up with the Apocryphal 
Books. 

It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence exerted on 
the Russian peasants by the Bible. The widespread and 
increasing religious movement of to-day undoubtedly owes its 
origin and spread very largely to it. It is for the most part the 
only book to be found in a Russian mushik''s home, where, with the 
exception, perhaps, of a collection of silly legends, is no litera- 
ture nor any newspaper. The testimonies, whether written or 
oral, given by the peasants as to their conversion to evangelical 
religion almost always go back to Bible-reading as the means. 

Among the steerage passengers on our journey was a peasant 
in poor but tidy dress, with a pensive and intelligent look. 
Getting into conversation with him we found him to be an 
earnest, evangelical Christian ; at our request he gave us a 
sketch of his life, which I put here into connected form. 

" I am, as you see, a simple peasant. My parents were very 
poor, owning but three hectares of land. A large family and 
crushing taxes reduced my father to destitution, so that he had 
to work for a hulacJc in our village as a hatraJc (^.e., as a slave, 
for debts incurred) . Every day my mother was working away 
from home to keep us from starving, until she also became a 
ha.trak to one of our creditors. We children were seven in 



On the Volga. 143 



number, my eldest sister, who had charge of us, being only 
nine years old. Of course, as happened with other children, 
too, we lived like cattle and pigs. I was the youngest, and 
went with my mother where she was working, generally lying 
on rags or the bare earth, exposed to mosquitoes and frequently 
an object of curiosity to a dog or a calf. 

" My entrance into this world took place in an open field 
during hay harvest, and almost the entire summer I was hung 
in a IjulJca (a kind of suspended cradle) in the heat of the sun 
or exposed to the rain, out in the fields where my mother was 
working. 

" I was not baptized on the eighth day after my birth, 
according to Orthodox custom, but nearly six months after- 
wards. This was partly because I was born in the busiest 
season of the year, when my parents had to work every day 
for the kulachs, and partly because they were so poor that they 
had nothing to pay for the ceremony, though the priest cut 
down the price to forty copecks. At last the police compelled 
him to do it, but this made him so angry that he dipped me 
three times in icy cold water; I fell very ill and was near death, 
but at last recovered. 

^' When I was six years old the most severe calamity befell 
us. My father in despair took to drink, leaving the entire 
care of the large family to my mother. Soon the last traces 
of our belongings disappeared ; my mother had to go out 
begging to keep us from starvation, and often we got no food 
before noon, when she returned with a morsel or two. 

" After a few years I was sent to my sister, who had been 
married into a very Orthodox family. There I was taught to 
repeat prayers and sing psalms, but of a living faith I heard 
nothing. I learnt to stand before the picture of a saint 
and repeat prayers Avhich I did not understand. When I was 
ten I had an irresistible desire to learn to read, but there was 
no school in our village, and had there been one I was too poor 
to have attended it. 

" A soldier in our village, however, who could read, had some 
liking for me, and undertook to teach me. He used the old 
method, giving the letters the old Slavonic names, which made 



144 On the Volga. 



it veiy hard for me, but thanks to mj strong desire to read, 1 
got over that difficulty. In summer, when I had to take my 
share of field work, I forgot almost all T had learnt, but in 
autumn I began to teach myself again, and by spring could 
read moderately well. No more could be expected of me, as 
my opportunities were so limited. My education remained at 
that point till I was sixteen. Then I had a great desire to read 
better, and with much trouble got a church calendar and a 
psalm-book, in which I read with diligence. My efforts were 
rewarded with progress, and I could at last read so well that I 
was often asked by the people to read the prayers over the dead. 
(In Russia it is usual to read prayers over the dead for the 
first three days after death.) 

^* Soon I had a great wish to learn to write, but was met with 
the difficulty that I had no ink. I made some by boiling elder- 
tree bark in water. Then I bought two goose quills at the 
market for three copecks. I found in my father's chest a 
small piece of paper, on which something was written, and 
copied this out, though scarcely understanding a single letter. 
When my father noticed my industry he asked the village 
scribe to write out a copy and show me how to write. So I 
learnt, but I cannot say that my style was beautiful. 

'^ Then I began to take special pleasure in the church music, 
and in service went into the choir. I was not driven away, so 
began to join in the singing. Then I was asked to read psalms 
before the service began (a Russian custom ; it may be done by 
a layman). The villagers began to think much of me, and 
the psalmsinger, after I had helped him gratis, would give me 
money from the bowl on the altar that is used in the service. 

''The priest, too, began to notice me, and at weddings, 
funerals, and Eastertide processions I went next to him, 
holding the sacred pictures. Soon I became intimate with 
the priest. I had thought before that the clergy were more 
moral than laymen, but I soon changed my mind as I saw that 
they allowed themselves every gratification and indulged in 
spirit-drinking outside mealtimes. I, too, got into the same 
habit, but my conscience began to reproach me, and I saw 
that my spiritual pastor, instead of guiding me in the right 



On the YoTiGA. 145 



wsij, was leading me to eternal perdition. Sncli was the way 
in whicli tlie Lord called me to Himself." 

After describing his agony of mind, and the effect produced 
upon him by a picture of the Last Judgment, he went on to 
tell of his coming into the possession of a New Testament, 
through a man who had been working in the city and had 
associated with the Stundists. By reading this he found rest 
^nd satisfaction in the truth. 

" From that moment all was new for me ; I knew that I was 
beginning to live. My past life seemed like a black dream. 
All things round me, heaven and earth alike, were transformed. 
It was with me as with the blind man, I received my spiritual 
sight." 

Of course his relatives and friends, the priest at their head, 
began to persecute him, and he came at one time very near 
■banishment to Siberia. But he escaped the danger, and became 
the means of converting many others. 

At one station where we stopped we saw one of those 
^' Cross-processions " out on the fields that are so common, 
their object being to implore the Deity to send rain and 
-avert hunger. 

The scenery on the Volga becomes more and more pic- 
turesque the farther we push up its stream. North of the city 
-of Samara it flows through the beautiful Shibulovski Moun- 
tains, and the treeless steppes are replaced by forest-clad 
heights. Here and there, surrounded by the dark pine woods, 
is seen a white monastery, nestling amid rocks, or standing 
on some hillside slope, while little villages of grey and red 
houses slumber in the valleys. 

On the fourth day of our journey up the Volga we passed 
-one of its tributaries, the Kama, which rises in the Ural 
Mountains, on the Siberian frontier, and joins the main 
stream sixty miles below Kasan. It is the great waterway to 
Siberia, along which prisoners are conveyed in floating 
.prisons ; we saw one of these as we steamed by. 

Kasan itself lies hidden from view, with the exception of 
its many gilded church towers and minarets. At this place a 
-score of Mohammedan priests, called mooli, of the Tatar tribe, 

10 



146 On the Volga. 



came on board, proceeding as far as Nishni Novgorod. They 
all sat round a table, conversing in their strangely soft 
language; suddenly they would put their thumbs to their 
ears to shut out the world while praying. 

These Tatars are, as a rule, excellent people. They call the 
orthodox ''idolaters," because they worship the pictures of the 
saints ; the orthodox retort the term on the Tatars because 
they do not worship Christ. In Kasan the Tatars have much 
the best hotels, which are clean and orderly. In the orthodox 
hotels, on the other hand, are women of bad character, drunk- 
enness, dirt, and dishonesty. 

Early on the fifth day we arrived at the picturesquely- 
situated and interesting city of Nishni Novgorod, the end of 
the steamboat journey. We stayed for a few hours only, 
walking through the streets, as it was the dull season ; it is 
during the great fair that the city wakes up to full activity and 
life. Here and there we found traces of the frequent fires 
that occur in the wood-built houses in spite of the ingenious 
and far-sighted command said to be issued by the governor of 
the place, that the inhabitants must always report to the police 
at least two hours before the outbreak of fire ! 

On our way by train from Nishni Novgorod to Moscow we 
fell in with a liberal professor of theology in one of the 
southern universities, with whom, we had a most interesting- 
conversation. 

Speaking of the terrible famine and its causes, the Professor 
remarked : " The priests, also, are a very heavy burden on the 
people's shoulders, keeping them down by ignorance and 
poverty. If I had the power, I would exterminate all this 
miserable missionary work among the masses, which is only 
intended to hinder the spread of light among our people. I 
believe firmly in the principles of religious liberty, and no pro- 
gress can be made in our country before we have it." 

My companion, an earnest evangelical Christian, remarked 
that there was an essential difference between the Orthodox and 
evangelical missions, to which he replied : 

"May be, but so far I have not found, either in the Greek, 
Koman, or Protestant Churches, any mission which has not more 



On thf. Volga. 147 



or less been intolerant, and attempted compulsion of conscience 
in the name of Christ. In His name even war is carried on, and 
God's blessing- is invoked on w^holesale murder. Not only during- 
war, but at all times they pray that God will give us victory over 
our enemies and trample them under our feet, as it stands in 
our Russian church prayers. There is much besides from which 
I have to dissent, and therefore I have of late come to the 
conclusion that it is best to leave the people without forcing 
upon them anything that contradicts their beliefs, and allow 
them to develop naturally." 

To iny question how, with such views, he could retain his 
position as Professor in an Orthodox University, he replied : 

" It is quite natural. I teach religion as I would any other 
subject. I find it very interesting to study the different 
religions and compare them, and it is just through these 
researches that I have arrived at my present views." 

" What ! do you say we do not need our Orthodox faith ? " 
here struck in, in half- astonished, half -insulted tone, a fat and 
ruddy youth who was sitting opposite my companion, and had 
listened to the conversation, evidently understanding no more 
than that the Professor had spoken against the Orthodox 
religion. 

" What fault do you find with our Orthodox faith ? Is it so 
difficult for you to make the sign of the Cross before a picture ? 
IS'othing else is required." And he broke out into a self-satisfied 
chuckle as he threw himself back in his seat and closed his 
little eyes, almost buried in fat, while his whole jovial and well- 
fed figure shook with laughter. 

" And when the Great Lent comes on we eat in the last week 
cabbage and onions, and drink kvass as much as the soul 
requires ; then go to the pope and leave our sins with him for 
twenty copecks, take the Holy Sacrament " (here he made a 
pious grimace), " and after the midnight service on Easter Eve 
we make up for the fasting by eating eggs, lamb, pork, butter, 
and cheese, and on Easter morning go a-feasting and have a 
jolly time till next Lent. No ! there is no better religion 
in the world than our Orthodox faith ! Is ifc not so, grand- 
father ? " he said, turning to an aged citizen, one of the " old 



148 On the Volga. 



believers," who was sitting opposite him, and who, with a 
paternal smile, looked at the self-satisfied youth, saying half 
to himself, 

'' Youth, youth ! If youth only had understanding, and age 
strength," quoting a Russian proverb. 

^^Do you know, grandfather," the young fellow chattered on, 
^^my mother has a little shop of her own, but I have charge of 
i:he business, you know. My father died when I was just a 
little brat ; it is only three years since I became master of the 
house, as it were. Heigho ! how this business life bores me, 
grandfather ! But then I sleep like a dead man when I come 
home at night at nine o'clock. Then I eat my fill of sweet 
cakes and pastry, which mother bakes for me, wash it down 
with a little tea, and so throw myself into bed and sleep until 
•eleven or twelve o'clock next morning. It's no use trying to 
wake me before then. Is it a sin to sleep so much, grand- 
father ? I can't help it ! it's no use trying. I don't like it 
myself, but I can't help it." 

'^ Sleep, sleep, my child," replied the old man. ^^When age 
comes on and conscience begins to accuse us of the faults and 
thoughtlessness of youth, sleep will flee." 

'' Well, grandfather, is it a sin to make the sign of the Cross 
with three fingers ? " he asked, with a roguish smile, jesting with 
the old believer, who makes the sign with only two fingers. 

*^It is not ours to decide upon that matter, my child," said 
the old gentleman. " We have to love Jesus Christ our God, 
and believe His Word, and leave the rest with God. ' In every 
nation he that feareth Him and doeth righteousness is accept- 
able to Him.' " 

" You are right," chimed in a middle-aged Tatar, in a mild 
voice, who had been sitting on a bench behind us, and now came 
forward. " I also believe that. But allow me to ask where it 
is written that Christ is God ? In our Koran it stands that He 
was only a prophet, and that God is only One." 

" I don't care about your Koran," cried the young man, 
flushed with rage. "That is no law to me ; our Orthodox faith 
is better than yours ! " 

Now my companion interposed, and directed the conversation 



On the Volga. 149" 



into other cliannels ; otherwise ignorance and fanaticism might 
have made the dispute too hot. 

On our arrival in Moscow the following morning we found all 
the shops closed, and the whole city decorated to celebrate the 
birthday of the Crown Prince. I have said elsewhere that there 
are seven of these festival days, which by Imperial decree must 
be celebrated by the suspension of all useful work and business. 
Suppose that only one-half of the Russian people are engaged in 
any kind of useful work, these Imperial festivals mean the loss of 
over a million years of one person's labour, and if we take all 
the 133 festival days in the year (including Sundays) they 
represent about twenty millions of years of one labourer's time, 
not to speak of the moral loss to the people by enforced 
systematic idleness. 

Between Moscow and St. Petersburg I met a highly-placed 
Russian official from the government of Kursk, who was an 
unusually sympathetic and liberal-minded man for his caste. 
He told me about the terrible distress of the peasants in his 
province, and was deeply interested in my account of the relief 
work of the Tolstoi family. 

'*The state of things is desperate," he remarked. *^The 
peasants are not only unable to pay the taxes and the redemp- 
tion money for the land, but the State must now support them, 
and there are about 35 millions of these destitute and helpless 
people. . . . Even in the most favourable circumstances it 
must be many years before there can be any change for the 
better. 

When I asked him what he considered the best means of 
bettering the conditions of the people, he said that practical 
schools were indispensable, and spoke of a rational system of 
migration. 

" But," he added, " there is no possibility under present 
circumstances of carrying either of these into effect." Then he 
reminded me of what I knew before, that several public-spirited 
and wealthy gentlemen had offered to establish practical schools 
of different kinds at their own cost, but had not been permitted 
to do it. A conspicuous case in point was the offer of one 
Sibiriakoff to build an agricultural academy in Samara, and 



150 On the Volga. 



endow it with one million of roubles. For a whole year his 
application lay unanswered at St. Petersburg, and was at last 
met with a point-blank refusal. The Governor of Samara had 
explained to the authorities that such an institution was not 
needed in his province, and besides^ would probably only become 
a centre of political propaganda. 



CHAPTER X. 

AMONa GERMAN COLONISTS. 

Skilful Boatmen — Adventures in a Eow-boat — The German Colonies — Their 
Prospering — and Decay — Mennonite Colonies — Their Principles — A Visit 
— An Oasis in the Desert — Peace and Plenty — A Miracle of Co-operation — 
Land for All — Successful Prohibition — A Wonderful Record of "Crime" 
— "No Priests, Policemen, Publicans, or Paupers" — Co-operation and 
Competition. 

To get to some of the so-called German Colonies, where my 
business led me, I took one of the great Volga steamers from 
Samara to Yolsk, having to complete the journey, some twenty- 
four miles, in a row-boat. I first took note of the great relief- 
work organised by Countess Schouvaloff on her large estate close 
by, and then went to a " contractor " to order a boat and two 
oarsmen to take me to the village of Basel, in the German 
Colonies. I had often heard of the skill of these Volga boat- 
men, and was looking forward with considerable anticipation 
to seeing it for myself during a pleasant ride on the bosom of 
''^ Mother Volga." When I came to the river I was unpleas- 
antly surprised by finding a wretched-looking, half-rotten, 
wooden box of a boat, manned by two rowers whose looks 
inspired me with anything but confidence. I returned to the 
" contractor" and remonstrated, but was met with the eternal, 
ambiguous Russian expression " Nitchevo " / I had no time 
to try elsewhere, so decided to run the risk and trust to my 
swimming abilities if any calamity should occur. 

On leaving the shore one of the rowers at once gave evidence 
of his incapacity; probably he had never touched an oar before. 
At every stroke he plunged his oars perpendicularly into the 
deep, at the same time half rising from his seat. The other, 
who plainly considered himself the " captain," gave up rowing 
altogether, took his seat opposite his " crew," and issued 



152 Among German Colonists. 

orders in terms more forcible than polite, smoking the while 
one cigarette after another, I should have lost all patience, 
had not the unusually strong current carried us of itself out 
into the open river, where it became almost imperceptible. 
Here a small breeze sprang up, and the captain dived under a 
seat and produced a bundle of rags. I asked what he was 
going to do, and he replied " Sail ! " 

An old oar was put up as a mast, with the boathook as sprit- 
sail yard. Amid much fuss and shouting the sail was hoisted, 
and, with another old oar the '^ captain " sat down aft to steer 
his craft. It was the most picturesque sail I have ever seen. 
Part of it reminded me strongly of the maps sometimes 
exhibited at missionary meetings, with *' Darkest Africa " and 
other heathen lands coloured black in irregular patches ; for 
the rest, it resembled the loud " checks " favoured by a certain 
class of tourists more than anything else. 

But my observations and comparisons were suddenly cut 
short, as an infant cyclone swept sail, mast, and all into the 
water. The ^' captain " now took the oars, and we managed to 
get to the other side of the stream, where the strong current 
had eaten away the sand bank ; the miserable rowers not being 
able to keep the boat from the shore, we had a narrow escape 
of being sent to '^Davy Jones's locker" by a landslip. I took 
the oars myself and pulled to our destination. Here the 
rowers wanted an extra rouble for their "^hard work." I 
discovered that the " contractor " had given these poor men 
only a few copecks apiece, keeping the larger part of what I 
had paid him for his own share. 

I visited almost every village in the German Colonies on the 
Volga. These have had a very interesting history. They 
date from the time of the Empress Catherine II., who invited 
German immigrants to make settlements, and endowed them 
with considerable privileges, her object being to erect a 
strong barrier of defence against the half-savage hordes then 
roaming over the steppes beyond the Volga. The colonists 
built their villages near one another on the fertile shores of 
the river, and soon entered upon a period of prosperity. 
Before the great famine they numbered about 350,000. Their 



Among German Colonists. 153. 



large schoolhouses and churches, their well-built dwelling- 
houses, surrounded by trim gardens, all spoke of a considerable 
degree of thriving civilisation. 

Unhappily, however, this prosperity must alread}^ be spoken 
of in the past tense. For one thing, their well-being had, as 
usual, attracted the hostile attention of a suspicious Govern- 
ment, and of late years every expedient has been employed to- 
hamper their development. At one time tobacco-growing was 
a flourishing industry in these colonies ; the authorities made 
the sale of this commodity a monopoly, with the result that 
their market was practically destroyed, and the industry 
killed. Nor have they been proof against the wiles of 
capitalism, both from without and within. 

The consequence of this was that the}^ were unable to stand 
against a succession of bad years, and famine broke out in 
their midst. I found, during my investigations, that these 
colonists of German extraction, being accustomed to a higher 
standard of living than the mttshiJcs, fell much easier victim& 
to starvation than the latter. Typhus, also, had made terrible 
havoc among them ; the death-rate had in some villages gone 
up as high as 180-200 per 1,000. From these causes, and 
especially on account of the hostile attitude of the Government,, 
emigration to America has set in on a large scale. 

The Mennonite Colonies, usually included by name among 
the " German " colonies, but really of Dutch origin, form a 
very pleasing and instructive exception to the general misery 
and starvation. During the famine, not only have they not 
suffered themselves, but they have been both able and willing 
to give much aid to the needy round about their borders. 

The ancestors of the present colonists shared in the invitation 
of the Empress Catherine II. mentioned above, and received 
from her the privilege of maintaining both their religious faith 
and practice, and their communal ownership of land. The}^ 
were also exempted from military service, as contrary to their 
religious belief, and received instead the obligation to plant 
trees ; a most excellent substitution. After overcoming the 
natural difficulties, which occupied them some years, they 
flourished greatly, and have continued to do so ever since. At 



154 Among German Colonists. 

one time the sapient authorities attempted to curtail their 
privileges^ and large numbers emigrated to America, both to 
the United States and the Southern Continent, but of late they 
have been comparatively free from molestation. 

The cause of the wonderful success of these colonists in 
the face of considerable disadvantages is undoubtedly their 
practical Christianity, i.e., the steadily applied principles of 
brotherly love in their communal life. 

To give the reader a clear idea of these colonies we invite 
him to share our visit to one of them. 

It is a very hot summer day, and we have a covered carriage 
to protect us against the scorching rays of the sun. A few 
hours' ride over the treeless, waterless steppe brings us within 
view of an oasis in the desert, conspicuously green. It is the 
Mennonite Colony of Halfstaal, in Southern Russia, which we 
are about to visit. The nearer we approach the more vivid is 
the contrast between it and the surrounding country. All 
round is the dreary, flat, and sun-scorched steppe, unrelieved by 
a single tree. Here, in the midst, is a tract of charming 
verdure, grassy meadows, and luxuriant foliage. At one of the 
outskirts rises a three-storied building of handsome dimen- 
sions ; it is the school for deaf and dumb, supported by all the 
Mennonite Colonies in common, and used for the instruction of 
their deaf-mutes of both sexes. The methods of teaching and 
all the arrangements are in accordance with the latest improve- 
ments in Europe. There is perfect order in the school, as in 
the colony generally, testifying to the high moral and intel- 
lectual development of the inhabitants. Snug and roomy 
houses on both sides the broad street peep cosily out from the 
green gardens, which always form an essential part of a 
Mennonite home. Here are no abominations of terraced 
houses, in which, as Maarten Maartens somewhere observes, 
the central inhabitant has only to read the newspaper aloud, 
and all the others in the street may save their pennies ; each 
home is surrounded by a spacious plot of land of its own, with 
separate well for both drinking and irrigating purposes. 
Behind the house is always a kitchen-garden, beyond a well- 
built cowshed and storehouse. Scrupulous cleanliness and 



AmojStg Gekman Colonists. 155 

order is a conspicuous feature of all within the borders of 
these demesnes. The large common well is in an open spot 
on one of the outskirts of the village, supplied with a spacious 
cattle -trough. 

The Mennonite colonies are, as a rule, of moderate size onlj, 
mostlj consisting of from fifteen to fifty farms. The land is 
owned by the community, and each, member has a right to 
cultivate 65 hectares (about 160 acres) of this communal land* 
He may, of course, if he please, purchase more land outside 
the bounds, but this happens very seldom. On marriage, a 
young couple is provided, if they desire, with these sixty-five 
heetaresy a house, implements, and stock from the communal 
fund ; in return, they must cultivate the land properly, keep it 
in good condition, and pay their yearly quota to the communal 
fund. Every farm is a small agricultural centre, perfectly in- 
dependent as regards the use made of it, just as an owner of 
the soil would be, except tha.t it is not permissible to let it run 
to waste or in other ways become impoverished. 

The Mennonite Colonies of Russia are standing miracles of 
the triumph of human co-operation. Out of the dry, treeless 
steppes there have arisen, as if by occult forces, flourishing 
groups of homesteads, with fresh spring water in abundance ; 
large plantations of fruit and the common forest trees ; fields 
made fruitful by laborious culture ; numerous herds of splendid 
cattle and horses. In this village district alone the number of 
trees amounts to about twelve millions. Ea.ch colony has its 
own school and a large storehouse for cereals, kept filled in 
case of failure of crops. Besides these, the Mennonite de- 
nomination as a whole has several high-schools. Oat of the 
common fund they also support physicians, mid wives, and 
hospitals. They also form their own fire insurance company, 
independent of all Government control. No premium beside s 
the ordinary contribution is paid, but in each case the loss is 
borne b}^ the entire community, and payment made from the 
common fund without delay. 

The quota paid by each colonist to this communal exchequer 
is proportional to his income, and the burdens of taxation (to the 
Government) are divided among all able-bodied persons of both 



156 Among Geeman Colonists. 

sexes between the ages of fourteen and sixty. Their own com- 
mon fund is administered bj responsible trustees, who receive 
no pay for their services, but regard it as a position of honour 
and trust. Il^o defalcations have been known among them. 

It very rarely happens that anyone neglects his duty of 
contributing his annual share to the common fund, or of cul- 
tivating the land he occupies. If such a case should occur, 
the delinquent is put under discipline, mostly of a moral 
kind ; they have the power of expulsion, in the worst cases. 

Each colonist has his land adjoining his house, and not in 
diffei-ent parts of the settlement, as frequently happens under 
the bad system of the E-ussian Government. It is not com- 
pulsory to take up this portion of land. Some prefer to work 
for others, or engage in some industrial occupation. They 
have a few manufactures, but obtain most articles of this 
description in exchange for their farm produce. They practise 
co-operation very largely in the disposition of such goods as 
are destined for the market, and not for home consumption. 
It is obvious that the right to become farm-holders on their 
own account entirely prevents that mischievous, unequal 
pressure, resulting in the forced sale of one's labour for a 
miserably inadequate return, that is lauded among Western 
nations as a " beneficent freedom of competition." The 
members of the community who live outside the colonies, 
e.g., teachers, many of whom find positions in large cities, 
retain their rights of membership by the annual payment of 
their due quota, reckoned on their income. These duly quali- 
fied persons can always take refuge from the competitive 
storm of the capitalistic world, should they find its buffetings 
too severe, in these havens of co-operative helpfulness, and 
either take up their portion of land or fill any other position 
for which they are qualified, at their option. 

When the Government grants of land were found insufficient, 
the community bought other tracts, so as to provide the mini- 
mum holdings guaranteed to each member. 

The Mennonites are not communists in the complete sense 
of the word, but recognise private property in all but the land^ 
and even there only that is communal that belongs to the 



Amoxg Germa.n Colonists. 157 

community and is used for the guarantee described above. 
All buildings, trees planted, and improvements generally made 
on a farm by the occupier rank as private property, which is 
inherited by Ms heirs, wlio must be paid a just value by the 
new occupant of the farm. In this inheritance women share 
equally with men, as they have an equal responsibility for the 
Government taxes. 

It was one of the privileges granted to the Mennonites, when 
they first arrived in 1789, that no one should be allowed to open 
liquor shops within their borders. This practice is maintained, 
and here at least the advocates of Prohibition may find an 
instance of its success. The police authorities have light work 
■so far as the Mennonites are concerned, even with the manu- 
factured crimes so dear to the hearts of Russian officials. 
Here are some figures giving the complete list of misdemeanours 
and crimes as recorded in police archives, in one case for a 
population of 12,121 during thirty-seven years, in the other 
in a population of 6,000 during ten years : — 

Disobedience aiid impertinence 

Abetting escape of prisoners 

Disobedience to parents 

Calumny, slandei*, and untrue reports 

Adultery 

Neglect in quencbing fires 

Theft and roguery . . . 

Neglect of agriculture 

Quarrelling and strife 

Drunkenness ... 

Offences against the faith 

Keeping a tavern 

Non-fulfilment of official orders 

Non-fulfilment of agreements 

Non-payment of bills and loans 

It will be seen that many of these would disappear altogether 
from Enghsh police-lists, and others would be transferred to 
the civil branch of the law. But did all these figures represent 
real crimes it would be a wonderful record, considering the 
number of years and the pojDulation. It is a testimony as to the 
efficacy of good economic conditions in the reduction of crime 
that cannot be gainsaid, for other communities have had as much 
religious faith as the Mennonites, but cannot show so clear a 



37 YEAES. 


10 YEARS 


6 


— 


2 


— 


11 




10 


1 


41 


24 


1 


— 


9 


5 


16 


4 


4 


1 


1 


7 


— 


2 


5 


— 


3 


17 


1 


1 


1 


1 



158 Among German Colonists. 

record from roguery and theft. Moreover the children born to 
religious parents are not necessarily religious ; at least, it is 
not generally found so in other lands. But all born into these 
communities are allowed to remain, if they think fit, with 
privileges independent of religious confession. It is surely 
because the religion of these people is logically applied to 
their economic and social arrangements that we find this most 
extraordinary freedom from crime. 

We therefore sum up this brief sketch of the Mennonite 
Colonies by repeating that, on the testimony of every impartial 
observer, they practise the gospel of brotherly love in truth 
and reality, not simply in word and doctrine. They do not 
seek to eat up, but to help each other and the neighbouring 
people. Usury is unknown. Their religious concerns are 
under the care of unpaid elders ; the only clergy they support 
being of the missionary order. In a word, co-operation is the 
keynote of their life, not competition, and it is allowed to govern 
their economic and social as well as their religious relations. 
As a result they have no need of priests, prisons, policemen, 
publicans, or paupers. 

The contrast between these communities and the Orthodox 
Russian villages in their neighbourhood, on the steppes, is the 
sharpest imaginable. In the latter are no trees — ("they don't 
grow," say the mushiks. ^'Because you do not plant them," I 
used to add) — no schoolhouses, no hospitals, no decent dwell- 
ings, but plenty of ignorance, drunkenness, dirt, poverty, 
disease, and misery of every kind. The fundamental cause 
is the absence of true, practical Christianity in the relations 
between man and man. 

The same contrast is also to be found, although not so 
glaring, between the Mennonite Colonies of other lands and 
their neighbours, e.g., in the United States and South America. 
In the last-named, for instance, the Mennonites are on one side 
of the E-iver La Plata, and the Swiss, with a large sprinkling 
of Italian, on the other. Prosperity and happiness are to be 
found among the former ; with the latter, who practise compe- 
tition and its resulting forms of cheating and jugglery, there 
is poverty and misery. 



CHAPTER XI. 

IN THE CITY OF SARATOV. 

The City — General Ustimovitch — A Stundist Meeting- — A Prison-Evangelist 
— Detectives — A Notable Picnic — Consecration of the Volga— Calumny 
against Stundists — An Orthodox Missionary — Ploly Water. 

Feom the German Colonies I went to the city of Saratov, 
beautifully situated on the Volga, with a population of about 
125,000. Looked at from the river it would easily be taken for 
a modern Western town, were it not for the large number of 
churches, whose Byzantine cupolas, so different from our 
Gothic spires, gave their unmistakably Eastern aspect to the 
place. 

In the government of Saratov the famine had not reached 
such a fearful intensity as in Samara, yet the suffering had 
been very great, and the city itself was swarming with the 
starving peasants. Among those who devoted themselves to 
relieving the destitute General Ustimovitch held a prominent 
place. This noble man also gave much time and labour to 
editing a monthly periodical, called Brotherly Hel]), devoted 
exclusively to philanthropic topics, 

I give the following entry from my diary, as illustrating my 
experiences and observations in Saratov. 

On Sunday I was asked to address a meeting of Stundists, and 
accepted the invitation. The morning meeting was held in a pri- 
vatehouse consisting of three rooms and a kitchen. After singing 
and prayer by several of the brothers and sisters, a tall, fine-look- 
ing man stood up and read Hebrews xi., adding some practical 
and sensible comments. He spoke with deep feeling and 
conviction, which both attested his own earnestness and enlisted 
the sympathetic attention of his hearers. His dialect and dress 
told me that he was a simple peasant. While he was speaking 



160 In the City of Saratov. 

a friend whispered to me, ^' The speaker is a prisoner. He has 
been sentenced to one year's imprisonment, but the governor 
of the prison, having great confidence in this man, has allowed 
him one month's liberty in which to visit his friends and do as 
he pleases. The reason for the governor's action was an out- 
break of typhus in the overcrowded prison." 

I asked what crime he had committed, and was told, " He has 
been preaching the Gospel in the villages, and hundreds of 
orthodox peasants have been converted, become sober, and left 
the worship of saints' pictures. For this he has been sentenced 
to imprisonment." 

At the request of my friends I addressed a few words to the 
meeting, telling them of the sympathy felt by Christians in all 
lands with the persecuted Christians in Russia. 

The evening meeting, at which I had promised to give a 
longer address, was held in the same room, and was much more 
largely attended. Before I rose to speak a slip of paper was 
put into my hand, on which was written in pencil, " Detectives 
are present. Be careful ! " 

"With this unexpected stimulus I rose and told the audience 
that I was not going to preach, but simply to tell them some- 
thing of my experience in the famine-stricken provinces of 
Russia. I thought this would be suitable matter for the 
detectives to report to their chiefs. 

Starting with the magnificent gifts from America for the 
relief of the starving Russians, I told them how these contribu- 
tions had come from all- classes of the people, and took 
advantage of the opportunity, to describe, in passing, the homes 
■a,nd lives oi Americsin'^ mushiJcs." Then I described the relief 
work organised and carried out by Count Tolstoi's family, and 
the sufferings I had witnessed among the peasants of Samara. 
I added some remarks on the duty of brotherly kindness towards 
■each other, and the prospect of better times when men shall watch 
for opportunities of mutual service instead of accusing and 
exploiting one another, and closed with the humble request that 
all present should take this friendly exhortation to their families 
^nd friends, and try themselves to put it into practice ." 

After having supped with a friend, I returned to my 




GENERAL TTSTIMOTITCH AND HIS PAPEE, "bKOTHEELT HELP. 



11 



In the City of Saratov. 1G3 

lodgings, where I was told that a gentleman had been 
inquiring for me. From the description and other attendant 
circumstances it was more than probable that this " gentle- 
mian " belonged to the police. I at once concealed some 
important documents and photographs, taken in the famine 
districts, and went to bed, sleeping soundly. 

Among other visits next day I called on General Ustimovitch, 
who received me very kindly and invited me to a drive through 
the city. Sitting at his side in his elegant equipage, respect- 
fully saluted by the soldiers and police and gazed at admiringly 
hj the great multitude, I could not help contrasting the 
experience with that of the previous night, when I was hiding 
my papers, &c., from too great a curiosity on the part of the 
police. I endeavoured to adopt a mien worthy of the occasion, 
such as might have distinguished a Prince of the Blood or the 
Procureur-General himself ! 

At the General's proposal we made a picnic next morning 
at 6 a.m. to a height on the shores of the Volga. It was a 
curiously mixed party, including a peasant, a Tatar, and two 
Bible colporteurs. I took a Kodak picture of this interesting 
group, making a kind of silhouette against the sky. The 
General is in the middle with a Russian lady who has done and 
suffered much for her people ; to the right and left a Bible 
colporteur is handing the New Testament, the one to a mushik, 
the other to a Tatar. When we had had some tea, &c., a 
small choir went to the top of the hill and sang some songs in 
Russian, among them a translation of the beautiful hymn, 
" The Morning Light is Breaking, and Darkness Disappears." 
The General and myself stood at a distance listening. ' There 
was moisture in the General's eyes as he turned to me saying, 
as he pointed to the choir, '' And such people are persecuted in 
Russia!" ^' That is sad," I said. "Yes," he replied, "but 
the morning light is breaking." 

When we returned to the town a number of small processions 
were going through the streets, and the church bells were 
pealing. I inquired the reason of this, and was told that it 
was a prominent saint's day, and that at noon there was to be 
a solemn " vodoosvjaststchenje,'' or "consecration of the water'* 



164 



In the City of Saratov. 



of the Yolga ; the Governor of the city and all the prominent, 
inhabitants were to be present at the ceremony. I have before 
mentioned the great number of days on which all work must 
be suspended. There are 111 saints' days in the calendar tO' 
be celebrated, of which 76 are compulsory everywhere, and 
some of the remainder in different parts. Then there are- 
the seven Imperial festivals, besides Sundays. 

It was now, or should have been, the busiest time of the 
whole year. In the country there was the year's sowing to- 
be done, and the Volga was but newly opened for traffic. Yet 




A PICNIC PARTY. 



the shops in the city were closed, and large numbers of people 
from the country had come up to take part in the festivities. 

I started out myself to swell the crowd of idle onlookers. 
As I walked through the streets some peculiar-looking placards 
on the wall of a square attracted my attention. On closer 
acquaintance they proved to be compilations of the coarsest 
lies and slanders against the Stundists ; some of them made 
up of extracts from the Russian newspapers. They were, of 
course, placed thus conspicuously to excite the fanaticism of 
the Orthodox mob. The Stundists themselves have no possi- 
bility of redress or defence allowed them, and interference- 




,-*iff^#K5-^g4i' 



^T 



«'to 





CONSECRATING THE VOLGA. 



In the City of Saratov. 16T 

with these placards in any way would bring on the offender the 
direst penalties. 

Long before noon the streets through which the procession 
was to pass were closed to the public by gendarmes. With 
my Kodak under my cloak I managed to elbow my way down 
to the magnificent river^ whose waters, discoloured and swollen 
by the melting of the winter snows, were to be consecrated,, 
and secured a place on a large steamer, from which I had a 
good view of the " holy " pavilion, where the ceremony was tO' 
be enacted. In the middle of the pavilion floor was an opening 
to the water, draped round with a white cloth, on which ^^holy " 
vessels were placed. The bridges, the steamers, the banks of 
the stream, and the roofs of the houses were all covered with 
onlookers. 

Nearly an hour passed before the procession appeared, but 
as harbinger there came to the pavilion an important 
personage in the shape of an " Orthodox missionary." This 
is a new order of the Church, created to help the police ex- 
terminate the sectarians under pretence of " converting " 
tbem. There was a sanctimonious effulgence about his face 
that accorded well with his sleek appearance. I had seen this 
holy man before, and knew that he was a shining light within 
the fold of the Orthodox Church ; I knew with what unctuous 
eloquence he could address the orthodox masses, and kindle 
their orthodox passions to such a degree that they would 
assault and rob the heretics, both in the streets and in their 
own homes. I knew how, through his holy zeal, many a 
sectarian had been thrown into prison, or exiled to Siberia 
or Trans-Caucasia, leaving their destitute families in misery 
and despair. I knew, too, how that holy man would be 
humility itself, could even go so far in his condescension as to 
hold intimate intercourse with the lowliest — of the fairer sex. 
I therefore watched him with the greater interest and 
attention. 

With grave and solemn step he passed to the bridge leading 
to the holy pavilion, which none of the common or vulgar 
dared to tread. Here he stopped, and gazed on the masses 
with superior mien. He passed in review the quays and the 



1C8 In the City op Sabatov. 

shore, half turned, threw his head hack, and regarded the 
people in the windows and on the housetops. Solemnly he 
turned again towards the river, and, lowering his eyes, 
surveyed the rowing-boats round the pavilion. His face 
darkened as among these he discovered a boat-load of 
irreverent youths, whose ribald grimaces and gestures were 
not calculated to deepen the solemnity of the scene. 

^' Here they come ! " A forest of standards and crosses is 
seen above the crowd, slowly moving down the street, while the 
bells are ringing in rapid time. Now the procession is fairly 
within sight. In front is the Archbishop of Saratov, a saint 
of ample dimensions, with golden mitre, glittering with its pre- 
cious stones in the sun, upon his head, a. felonj of '^'partscha" 
(or long robe of white silk, shot with gold and silver) hanging 
from his broad shoulders, and a staff in his hand. After him 
follow monks, priests, nuns, deacons, and singers galore, carry- 
ing pictures of the saints, and behind them the notable civilians. 
Suddenly the procession stops ; the archdeacon begins to sing 
in a tremendous bass voice, the other singers soon joining in. 
The Orthodox multitudes cross themselves again and again, 
bowing deeply each time. Then the procession proceeds. Bow- 
ing and crossing himself, the Archbishop enters the '^holy 
pavilion," followed by the chief members of the procession. 
First a maleben (prayer) is sung, followed by mass. After this 
the climax is reached. The Archbishop steps to the opening in 
the floor of the pavilion referred to before, and makes the sign 
of the Cross above the water, the singers meanwhile singing a 
hymn. 

After the water has thus been consecrated, and obtained the 
necessary miraculous power, the Archbishop approaches the 
fence round the holy place, and with a kind of broom sprinkles 
holy water on the masses of the people, some of the pea- 
sants having waded knee-deep into the stream in pious hope of 
receiving a few of the sacred drops. 

At this point I bring out my unholy Kodak, and manage to 
get three snap-shots. One of these has been reproduced by the 
artist, showing the " holy pavilion " and other details of the 
Orthodox tomfoolery. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PRINCE DMITEI KHILKOY. 

His Questionings — Abandonment of Property — Life as a MusTiih — Influence on 
the Peasants — Conflict with Landowners — with the Church — " The Damned 
Stundist " — Banishment by " Administrative Process " — Journey into 
Exile — A Well-meant Offer — Settlement at Baschkitchet — Activity during 
a Cholera Epidemic — An Official Medical Commission — Imperial Persecu- 
tion — His Confession. 

We shall give in this chapter an account in detail of the 
life of one of Tolstoi's followers, which will serve as an 
example of the difficulties under which he and his disciples 
live, and the manner in which they put in practice what thej 
believe. 

It is now some years since Prince Dmitri Khilkov, who is 
still in the prime of manhood, gave his earnest attention to the 
deep realities of life. He had inherited large estates in the 
province of Kharkov, and enjoyed all the advantages, usually 
so considered, that such a position entails. But when he came 
to examine the grounds on which that position rested, and put 
cfuestions to himself with the intention of getting a satisfactory 
answer, he came to the conclusion, as Tolstoi had done, that 
the life of a privileged and wealthy person, surrounded 
by a peasant population plunged in degradation and misery, 
was opposed to reason, conscience, and the teaching of 
Christ. 

Once arrived at this conclusion, he proceeded to carry out 
its logical results. He was not one to rest content wifch 
holding a high ideal, while making '' the prevailing system " 
the excuse for a lower standard of actual life. The word 
*' doctrinaire " was not in his vocabulary. He at once dis- 
tributed his estate among the peasants, with the exception of 
even hectares (about seventee n or eighteen acres), which he 



170 Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 

kept to cultivate himself. On this he worked, paid taxes, and 
lived with his wife and children. "1 kept bees," he says, in a 
letter to a friend, " and a piece of land, and my seven hectares 
supplied my needs for the support of my family. I ploughed 
the fields, cultivated grass and root crops, and generally got a 
good harvest. I had one horse and two cows." In dress and 
everything but personal character he shared the mMshik's life 
completely. One who knew the Prince intimately, and on whose 
veracity I can implicitly rely, gave me in St. Petersburg the 
following account of his influence on them. 

" Such a degree of savagery prevailed among the peasants in 
that district of South Eussia where Prince Khilkov lived that 
it was even dangerous for a stranger to pass through it. After 
the great change in the Prince's life, he began to go among 
them, New Testament in hand, talking with them in brotherly 
fashion, showing them a better way, a happier mode of life, ready 
with advice and help on all occasions, just as he had already 
given up all his property for their sake. And what was the 
consequence ? The whole region is transformed, drunkenness 
and crime rarely occur, and the people live in mutual peace 
and goodwill." 

Of course, in the eyes of official wisdom all this was 
" dangerous," and could only escape interference for a few 
years. It was, besides, impossible for one of Khilkov's 
character and conviction to avoid collision with the authorities 
of such a Church and State. The landowners and ecclesiastics 
were foremost in transgressing the nominal laws, and oppressed 
the peasants in every way. These looked for help to the 
Prince, who never refused his aid, either of word or deed, to 
those who asked him. The story of his first collision with 
these gentry will illustrate the impossibility of peaceful 
relations between them. 

It is a favourite device to obtain the lands of the peasants 
by goading them to revolt by some unusually flagrant injustice, 
and then confiscating their holdings. It happened that a 
certain Count desired to enlarge his estates in this way, and 
he received the aid of his fellows. But Prince Khilkov 
explained the plot to the peasants, and when they were 



Fringe Dmitri Khilkov. 171 

summoned by the authorities, with the purpose of bringing- 
about the outbreak, they resolutely refrained from furnishing 
any pretext whatever. 

His rupture with the ecclesiastics, also, could not long be 
delayed, and occurred in this way. The Archbishop of 
Kharhov was greatly troubled about the spread of the 
Stundists, and devised various means for combating this 
heresy. He adopted the practice, increasingly common of 
late, of arranging public meetings for discussion of religious 
questions. An order of "Orthodox missionaries" has been 
ere ated whose business it is to conduct these discussions on 
the side of the Church. But instead of giving opportunity 
for free discussion, they are simply traps for unwary 
Stundists. The "missionaries" have free licence to heap 
all manner of lying calumnies on the heretics, but if the 
latter dare to attempt any refutation, they are silenced, and 
are marked by the police, with banishment to Siberia as a 
result. 

In Prince Khilkov's district, when these meetings were 
held in the villages, large numbers of the peasants would attend, 
and, before the discussion began, would hand to the priests 
the pictures of saints from their homes, declaring that they 
had no further need of them. Sometimes they would ask 
him to read to the people such passages as Matthew xxiii., 
xxiv., Isaiah xliv., &c. The Orthodox who came and heard 
these things out of the Bible were astonished, and many 
joined the Stundists. 

Another plan of the Archbishop was the distribution of a 
shameful pamphlet he had edited, written in verse, and called 
"^ The Damned Stundist." Prince Khilkov bought up several 
hundred copies, and provided each verse with a Biblical com- 
mentary, and a selection of Scripture passages on the back 
page of the pamphlet. All these he wrote with his own liand, 
distributed them among the peasants, and sent a copy to the 
Archbishop himself. 

We give a facsimile of the title-page of this remai-kable 
hrochure, with the Prince's comments in his own handwriting, 
and a translation of the text and annotations. 



Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his 
lord. (John xv. 20.) And these things will they do, because they have not known the 
Father, nor me. (John xvi. 3.) Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, 
and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my 
sake. (Matt. v. 11.) 



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THE DAMNED STUNDIST. 

If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. (John xv.'lS.) 
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from 

their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of 

man. (Luke vi. 22.) 

Printed at the Imperial Printing Office, KharTcov. 

Bless them that curse you. (Matt. v. 44.) Not that which entereth into the mouth, 
defileth the man ; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, this defileth the 
man. (Matt. xv. 11 ; Mark vii. 15, 18-23.) 



Prince Dmitki Khilkov. 173 

THE DAMNED 8TUNDI8T. 
Owt of tte same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing (James iii. 10). 



Hoar, ye thunders of the chtirch ! 
Arise, ye fulminations of the councils ! 
Crush with eternal anathemas 
The accursed set of Stundists ! 

But I say imto you, that every one who is angry with his brother 
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment (Matt. v. 22). 

II. 

The Stundist demolishes our dogmas ; 
The Stundist rejects our traditions ; 
The Stundist scoffs at our ceremonies ; 
The heretic, the accursed Stundist I 

And He said unto them, full well do ye reject the commandment 
of God, that ye may keep your traditions (Mark vii. 9). 

III. 

God hath honoured our Russian church 
With great renown and glory : — 
Her, our mother dear. 
Slanders the accursed Stundist. 

For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am 
I in the midst of them. 

IV. 

Like stars in the firmament 

The holy temples 

Shine throughout our native land : 

Shunned are they by the accursed Stundist. 

The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (1 Cor. 3-17). Know 
ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
in you ? (1 Cor. iii. 16). 



174 Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 



We offer prayer in the temples. 

We sing the hytnns of our church. 

Or we perform the holy sacraments : 

All is blasphemed by the accursed Stundist. 

And wliy call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not tlie things wlaicli I 
say ? (Luke vi. 46). But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire 
mercy, and not sacrifice (Mat. is. 13). 

VI. 

Our great and holy thaumaturgi, 

Defenders of the Russian land, 

And our spiritual shepherds : 

Defamed are all by the accursed Stundist. 

For there is one God, one mediator also between Grod and men, 
himself man, Christ Jesus (1 Tim. ii. 5). 

Yll. 

The relics of the men of God, 

Our holy images of saints 

And our processions of the Cross 

Are loathed by the accursed Stundist. 

Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected 
in the flesh? (Gal. iii. 3). 

It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the 
words that I have spoken -unto you are spirit, and are life (John 
vi. 63). . . 

VIII. 

When we sing Te Deum^s in the fields. 
Or consecrate our brooks and springs. 
Yea, when we Jciss God's holy Cross, 
Then gibes the accursed Stundist. 

Te hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people 
honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in 
vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of 
men (Matt. xv. 7, 8, 9). 



Prince Dmitri Khilkov 175 



IX. 

Harsh awl gloomy like a demon, 
Shumiing people Orthodox, 
In obscure dens he sJcidlcs, 
God's foe, the accursed Stundist. 

How can ye, being evil, speak good things ? for out of tlie abund- 
ance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matt. xii. 34). 



But if a simple sheep hut casts an eye 
Into the den of this tvild beast. 
By mocJcery, slander, and flattery , 
Entraps him the accursed Stundist. 

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matt. vii. 2). 
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so 
the curse that is causeless lighteth not (Prov. xxvi. 2). 

To tlie above commentaries Prince Khilkov has added the 
following Bible quotations, written on the back leaf of the 
above pamphlet under the heading : — 

LIFE'S POWER AND MEANING. 

Pear not little flock (Luke xii. 32). Ye are my friends, if ye do 
whatsoever I command you (John xv. 14). A new commandment I 
give unto you, that ye love one another. By this shall all men know 
that ye are my disciples (John xiii. 34, 35). I say unto you, my 
friends. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have 
no more that they can do. But 1 will warn you whom you shall fear. 
Fear Him which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell ; yea, 
1 say unto you, Pear Him (Luke xii. 4, 5) . Beware of false prophets, 
which come to you in sheej)'s clothing, but inwardly are ravening 
wolves (Matt. vii. 15). Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in 
long robes (Luke XX. 46) . I am the Good Shepherd (John x. 11). 
But he that is a hireling is not a shepherd (John x. 12), because he is 
a hireling (John x. 13). But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, because ye shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men! Por 
je enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to 



176 Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 

enter (Matt, xxiii. 13). Woe tinto you, lawyers ! for ye took away the 
key of knowledge. Ye entered not in yourselves, and tliem that were 
entering in, ye hindered. (Luke xi. 62). The Spirit of the Lord is 
upon me, because He anointed, me to preach good, tidiags to the poor ; 
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives and. recovering of 
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke iv, 18) . 
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am 
meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for 
my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt. xi. 28-30). For I come 
not to judge the world, but to save the world (John xii. 47). The 
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. xx. 28). The Son of Man 
is come to save that which was lost (Matt, xviii. 11). I come to 
cast fire (of the truth) upon the earth, and what will I if it is already 
kindled? (Lake xii. 49). If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my 
disciples. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free (John viii. 31, 32). This is my commandment, that ye love one 
another (John xv. 12). Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13). And as ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 
vi. 31). (And therefore, love not only those that love you) but love 
your enemies (Matt. v. 44). Be not angry (Matt. v. 22). Judge 
not (Matt. vii. 1). Eesist not evil (Matt. v. 39). In your 
patience ye shall win your souls (Luke xxi. 19). And if any man 
will go to law with thee and take away thy coat, let him take thy 
cloak also (Matt. v. 40). Then render unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's, and unto G-od the things that are God's. (Therefore, if they 
that rule and have the power demand your property, or even your life, 
let them take it without resistance. But give to no one your will, 
which is to be guided only by the will of your Heavenly Father, who 
has given it unto you. That which is not God's, give to the Csesar, 
and to every one that demands it ; but that which is the Lord's — the 
keeping of truth in your lives, according to His command — you must 
never render to any one, whosoever may demand it) (Luke xx. 25). 
For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, 
and forfeit his life? (Matt. xvi. 26). Be not therefore anxious for 
the morrow (Matt. vi. 34), saying. What shall we eat or what shall 
we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed ? (Matt. vi. 31). But 
seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you (Matt. vi. 33). (If ye seek the Kingdom of 



Pkincb Dmitri Khilkov. 177 



God, then observe) Neither shall they say, Lo, there ! Or then ! 
For lo! the Kingdom of Grod is within you (Luke xvii. 21). (The 
Kingdom of God is the perfecting of your spirit, the conformity of 
your life with His will, for the Lord is perfect and good.) First of 
iill, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 
xii. 1). For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall 
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no 
wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. v. 20). And when ye 
pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and 
pray in the synagogues ; but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine 
inner chamber, and having shut the door, pray to the Father, which 
is in secret (thy inmost heai't) (Matt. vi. 5, 6). Worship God in spirit 
and truth (John iv. 24) (but serve Him not in temples, not with such 
spiritual songs, which have pleased yourselves, or by not keeping- 
God's commandments, and by vain sacrifices). But when thou doest 
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth (Matt. 
vi. 3). Swear not at all (Matt. v. 34). Look not after a woman to 
lust after her (not even in your heart) (Matt. v. 28). Do not exalt 
yourself (Matt, xxiii. 12). Do not lord it over each other (Luke xxii. 
24). For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the 
sight of God (Luke xvi. 15). Not so shall it be among you, but 
whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister 
(servant) (Matt. xx. 26). My peace I give unto you; not as the world 
giveth give I unto you (not by compulsion, but voluntarily) ; let not 
your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful (John xiv. 27). Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, if any man keep my word, he shall never see 
death (John viii. 51). The words I have spoken tinto you are spirit 
and are life (John vi. 63). 

These things could be allowed no longer by the authorities. 
The Procureur-General of the Holy Synod, Pobiedanostseff, and 
his party concocted a scheme of getting Prince Khilkov out of 
the way by giving him living burial in the monastery of Sola- 
vetsky, which is on the White Sea, in the government of 
Archangel. But by the intervention of prominent friends this 
was altered to banisishment to Trans-Caucasia. 

It is easy to make a legal pretext in Russia. In 1890 the 
Governor of Kharkov ordered the Prince to move to that city. 
He refused. In 1892 the isjyravniJc (chief of police) in the city 
of Sovini summoned him to receive an order from the Minister 

12 



178 Peince Dmitri Khilkov. 

of the Interior concerning his person. The Prince did not obey, 
but gathered the peasants of his village together, explained 
matters to them, and bade them farewell. Soon the ispravnik, 
with ten armed policemen and an officer, came with a minis- 
terial order of banishment to Trans-Caucasia for five years 
"by administrative process," i.e., without trial or oppor- 
tunity of defence. The Prince refused the privilege that 
members of the nobility have of travelling in comfort at 
their own expense, though accompanied by gendarmes. On 
the one hand, he refused to contribute in any way to the 
expenses of his deportation, and on the other he claimed no 
rank above that of a mushik, and desired to be treated as 
such. 

On February 13, 1892 (O.S.), two officers, with fifteen armed 
soldiers, escorted the Prince from his village, who was then sent 
by common etape to Trans-Caucasia. 

At Tiflis he was allowed to lodge among his friends, under 
strict police surveillance. This city is the first stopping-place 
of all exiled sectarians, who have reason to remember well the 
dark, damp, and overcrowded prison. Castle Metjesch, which 
few escape. The Prince was detained a good while before being 
forwarded to his final destination, and during that time an offi- 
cial of high standing attempted to save him from exile by pro- 
curing him a situation in Caucasia. When Khilkov called by 
request at his house, the valet, taking him for an ordinary 
mushik, rated him for coming to see his Excellency in so poor a 
dress, and would not let him in for a time. The Prince replied, 
^'I am accustomed to go to my Heavenly Father in this dress, and 
his Excellency can hardly be of loftier rank than God." 
He refused the well-meant oifer, declaring that he would abide 
by the " administrative order." 

Finally, he was sent to the village of Baschkitchet, district 
Bortochali, in the government of Tiflis, inhabited by Moham- 
medans and banished sectarians, such as Dukhobortsi, 
Chalaputi, Stundists, &c. I saw an extract from one of his 
letters to a friend in St. Petersburg : — 

" I am fairly well, although suffering just now from a severe 
cold. It has been very cold here this winter. I have a place 



Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 179 

as servant to one of the banished sectaries, and my sleeping- 
place is near the door, so I have been exposed to draught 
and got a severe chill," 

In the following spring the Dukhobortsi gave him a small 
holding, which he cultivated as a kitchen-garden. His wife 
and children joined him in July, 1892, in voluntary partici- 
pation of his exile. 

Cholera broke out in the late summer. Khilkov had a little 
store of medicine, and the Dukhobortsi collected forty roubles, 
with which they asked him to purchase the most necessary 
drugs. Both Prince and Princess Khilkov threw themselves 
into the work of tending the cholera patients with untiring 
assiduity, and had the satisfaction of keeping down the deaths 
to a comparatively small number. Besides this small stock of 
medicines, procured by the exiles themselves, there was no 
other in the district, nor any physicians. It is true a " medical 
commission " did come from official quarters, hut they had no- 
remedies ivith them, and even wanted to take what they found in 
Baschkitchet. This was, however, refused them. My trust- 
worthy informant told me that " these gentlemen do not visit 
the patients, but hunt the cholera, which they wish to frighten 
away, carefully avoiding all cholera-stricken people who could 
infect them." 

Prince Khilkov and his wife were not married according to 
the rites of the Orthodox Church. Hence, as another blow at 
the heretic, the authorities have declared their children illegiti- 
mate. By the Russian law, they should be therefore under 
the care of the Princess, who belongs to the Lutheran Church ; 
but by order of the late Tsar, Alexander III., they were taken 
from their parents altogether and placed under guardians in St. 
Petersburg, to be brought up in the " Orthodox " faith. To an 
appeal made to him by the Princess the Tsar vouchsafed no 
reply. Letters from Russia received at the moment of writing 
bring the information that the present Tsar has treated 
another appeal sent to him personally in the like courteous 
fashion. Their infant girl, not yet one year old, they have, 
however, so far been permitted to keep. 

By request Khilkov wrote out for circulation among his 



180 Prince Dmitri Khilkov. 

friends tlie main points of his faith. We can hardly do better 
than end the account with an extract. 

MY CONFESSION. 

The principles of our faith are common to all men, since, as 
TertuUian said of old, '^The soul of man is by nature 
Christian." In its broad aspect, stated for a circle of 
intimate friends, my confession is as follows : — 

We look upon it as our duty to sow around us in our daily 
life the good seed, and to do loving deeds, even though that 
should necessitate the giving of our lives for our neighbours, 
our brothers. 

We reckon as our brothers all who have anything in common 
with us, without regard to creed, sex, or age, and without 
recognising any privilege whatever which power, custom, or 
culture may have conferred on us in the eyes of the world. 

By good works we understand every kind of helpfulness that 
we can show our fellows, by setting them free from spiritual 
or bodily sufferings, lightening their severe toil, and spreading 
among them the light of reason that illumines the path of our 
life. 

We observe no ceremonial rites, introduced and established 
by Church, State, or ancient usage, since all these customs, 
which are either outworn or have lost all significance, bedim 
the light of life to reason. They often aid in quieting the 
restless conscience by affording it a satisfaction in the per- 
formance of certain outward deeds, intended to appease the 
gods for past sins. Instead, we leave our conscience to be 
plagued, without seeking to satisfy it with outer ceremonies, 
until it becomes purged by repentance and renewed to 
.goodness. 

We pass no judgments, have no law-suits, because the New 
Testament enjoins that " if anyone smite thee on one cheek, 
turn to him the other," and that we return good for evil. If 
any of our number sin, his conscience should punish him more 
severely and justly than the courts and hangmen of this world. 

We recognise no obligation to human Governments, because 



Prixce Dmitri Khilkov. 181 

we have no king besides God, who dwells in us and guides our 
life, if we love Him and keep His commands. 

Since we acknowledge no responsibility whatever to earthly 
Governments, so we do not ask from them any rights and gladly 
renounce all kinds of honour, all riches and so-called privileges. 
While, however, we reject Governments, we have no ill will 
towards state officials, but love them as brotheis, and are 
always ready to serve them by word or deed provided that 
they ask nothing of us that is contrary to God's will. 

Our renunciation of the so-called privileges necessarily 
places us in the same position as the labourer, the mechanic, 
and the tiller of the soil. We do not own the land we till, for 
private property was established by violence, which is a 
conflict with the law of love, the command of our God, who 
dwells in us. We work where we are allowed, and use the 
implements of industry so long as they are not taken from us. 
If they hunt us away from one place, we flee to another. 

Having for our life's aim the service of God and our fellow 
men, we know that, as poisoned water flows from a polluted 
source, so no good work can come from man so long as he is 
full of vices. Therefore our endeavours are specially 
directed to making ourselves perfect. 

We are thoroughly convinced that if we ourselves grow 
better, in however small a degree, the good we can thereby do 
to our fellows becomes of correspondingly greater worth. 
This perfection of self involves striving after purity of body 
and spirit. While we follow after this purity we fear the 
temptations of pride, and seek lowliness. Only as we fulfil 
these conditions can we do the work of love. Purity, lowliness, 
and love — there you have the three ground principles of or.r 
life. 

We allow perfect liberty to others, and set no bounds to the 
search after truth. So our profession may be to-day very 
different from what it was yesterday and may be to-morrow, 
but we have all one and the same way, the unchangeable and 
eternal way, that Christ has shown us. To maintain the 
spirit's freedom we give no pledges, take no oaths, institute or 
acknowledge no creeds, and introduce no outward ecclesiastical 



182 Peince Dmitei Khilkov. 

ceremonies. The doctrine about the Church or the gathering 
of believers is included in Christ's saying, '^ Where two or 
three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of 
them." Such is our faith, such our hope. 

Our kingdom is not of this world ; that is, although we are 
in the world, we serve not the world, but the God of Truth. 
Serving this one and only King, Lawgiver, and Judge, we know 
that He only can save or destroy us. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A EUIKED FAMILY. 

Wealth and Rank — A Good Landowner and His Clever Son — Schooldays — 
Liberal Opinions and Their Dangers — -Disorder in the Schools — Accession 
to the Estate — Scientific Eesearch and Police Suspicion — At Moscow— A 
Cruel Plot — Solitary Confinement Uncondemned — The Sentence — Exile to 
Siberia — Destitution — Better Things — "No Rights" —Police and Love 
Affairs — Fate of a Refugee — Waste of Human Life — Loss of the Estate 
— A Young Girl's Religious Experiences — Education — Good Prospects — 
Struggle after Truth — Reading the New Testament — Persecution by 
Priests and Police — Exile — A Generous Revenge— Another Sister's 
Fate — And a Brother's — Mammon and Priestcraft. 

There is no lack of ruined families in Russia. Not merely 
those who by reckless and vicious living have worked their 
own destruction, but families of the highest repute and blame- 
less life, who owe their misfortunes entirely to the machinations 
of a ^' paternal " Government. They could be counted by the 
thousand, these householders whose happiness has been crushed 
by the Juggernaut of a cruel despotism, but we will here 
content ourselves with one specimen. Ex uno disce omnes. 

I met in different parts of Russia the debris, as one may say, 
of this scattered family, whose reputation stood very high in 
the eyes of wide and influential circles. One of the daughters, 
who is well known to the authors, has supplied the following 
facts concerning the origin and growth of their misfortunes, 
chiefly centring round the history of her brother, whom we 
will call Alexander. 

This young man is the son of a rich estate owner, who 
possessed 1,400 hectares (about 2^ acres each) of land in two 
provinces, with large herds of cattle and very many serfs, and 
surrounded himself and family with all the comforts of life 
usually enjoyed by the wealthy members of the nobility. He 
was not, however, one of the many who spent all their means 



184 A EuiNED Family. 



and time in luxurious dissipation, such, as costly wines, 
gambling, hunting, and epicurean feasts ; he rather held aloof 
from all society of that description. Possessing considerable 
skill as an engineer, lie spent large sums in procuring different 
kinds of agricultural machinery, and attempted to introduce 
more rational methods of cultivating the land. 

Alexander was born in 1860. Even in his earliest years he 
gave signs of mechanical and mathematical ability, and was 
never so happy as when engaged with, machines. Whenever 
his father was occupied on work of this description, either on 
the repair of old or the construction of new machinery, Alex- 
ander would be at his side. At twelve years of age lie could 
himself turn out excellent locksmith's work, which he jiractised 
with great assiduity in the few spare hours left to him from 
his other school studies, and so developed his mechanical 
talents very remarkably. 

His farther was at this time occupied with improvements in 
railroad construction, when a great misfortune befell him ; he 
lost the use of his right arm by a paralytic stroke. This 
threw all the responsibility for the finer mechanical work on 
his young son. A model of a locomotive and a railroad, made 
by Alexander, exhibited such skill and finish that even 
specialists were astonished at his workmanship, and predicted 
for him a brilliant career. It was not only in mechanics that 
he shone. Teachers and schoolmasters joined in awarding 
him the palm of distinction above all his comrades in his 
school studies. 

But this keenness of intellect led him into dangerous paths. 
As early as his fifteenth year he began to look at things 
with a critical eye ; fond of learning and devouring all the 
information within his reach, he naturally began to make 
comparisons, and analyse the conditions of life he found around 
him. He became the centre of a large circle of youths of his 
own age, some of them thoughtful and earnest in their own 
characters, others attracted simply by the example of their 
fellows, and swayed by more powerful natures than theirs. 
While under the magnetic influence of their nobler comrades, 
these seemed to themselves and others to burn with unselfish 



A Ruined Family. 185 



love for mankind and an earnest desire for its improved 
welfare, but as soon as the charm was broken by their removal 
to another sphere, they lost their ardour and pursued their 
own career, straining after their personal interests in care- 
lessness of the sufferings of others. 

This group used to meet at leisure hours for the reading and 
discussion of such works as would throw light on the problems 
that perplexed them, above all, the social questions that forced 
themselves upon their attention ; for example, the " Political 
Economy of John Stuart Mill." They also had a paper for 
private circulation, in which they expressed their own ideas 
upon the burning topics of the day. 

All this, of course, was done in secret, without the know- 
ledge of the school and other authorities, who might report 
them to the police. For the Government of the Tsar does not 
love brilliant geniuses. Instead of using them for the good 
of the nation, for conquering the obstacles that Nature puts 
in the way of human welfare, that when overcome they may 
confer a richer blessing on mankind, the Great Autocrat and 
his satellites pounce upon them in their early years, and 
condemn them to prison and to exile. Many die a premature 
death, others lose their reason in the terrible torture of prison 
life; those that endure to the end come out of their fiery 
trial as strong eagles whose eyes have been dinicied and their 
pinions singed, so that for them soaring flight has become 
for ever impossible. In this way Russia is deprived of her 
greatest wealth, the talent and genius of the flower of her 
youth. Happily, fresh young lives take up the tasks from which 
their predecessors have been violently removed, and with in- 
domitable energy and courage push on their work for freedom of 
life and thought, until death or Siberia cuts them off. The 
cause for which they perish is undying, and in time it will 
overthrow all obstacles ; tyranny and official despotism shall 
give way to liberty and brotherhood, both here and in the other 
countries of the world. 

In these studies Alexander and his companions passed three 
years of their school life, but they were not left in peace. The 
authorities had learned by experience that the fermentation of 



186 A iJuiNED Family. 



liberal ideas among students usually begins in the upper classes 
of the schools. Fearing the outbreak of disorder, the Minister of 
Instruction ordered all teachers to keep strict watch over their 
senior pupils. The result was what might have been foreseen ; 
these stringent measures onlj provoked the outbreak they were 
designed to prevent. The students, losing all patience under 
the continual harassment of petty interference on the part of the 
authorities, and supported as a rule in their liberal views by 
their relations and acquaintances, broke out in many schools into 
serious disturbances, in some instances proceeding even to 
violence. Many were expelled as incorrigible, and others were 
severely punished and threatened with the same fate if they 
did not mend their ways. 

Owing to Alexander's prominent position in his school he 
escaped expulsion, but the watch upon all his movements was 
redoubled in stringency. His praepositor and others of his 
fellow-pupils were engaged as spies upon his private life. These 
had orders to report all visits paid or received by him, with the 
hours of departure, &c., duly noted. 

Under this constant interference of strangers with his 
personal life his nervous system and health generally suffered 
such a strain that he decided to leave the school and return 
home for a rest. Just at this time, too, his father died, leaving a 
large family behind, and on him, as eldest son, the management 
of the estate and family affairs devolved. 

While in the country he made an attempt at putting his 
liberal ideas into practice. Laying aside all prejudices of rank, 
he dressed in a simple national costume, worked with the 
peasants at all kinds of agricultural labour, and altogether 
eschewed those habits of the upper classes that are both exceed- 
ingly costly and serve merely to erect a kind of moral Chinese 
Wall between the privileged and the oppressed. His one aim 
was to uplift the standard of the peasant's life, both in material 
and moral respects, and he knew with how much suspicion they 
regarded all meddling with their personal affairs on the part of 
members of the nobility. It was for this cause that he removed 
all possible differences between them, and sought by unaffected 
friendliness and goodwill to gain their confidence. It was not 



A EuiNED Tamilt. 187 



difficult for liim. He had been a child among them, and they 
considered him as one of their own. Thej gratefully received 
his counsels and tried to profit by them. 

But not even on his ancestral estate could he be left in peace. 
The local police became inquisitive and put all manner of 
questions to his mother. Why did he dress so plainly ? Why 
did he work as a common labourer in the fields ? Why did he 
talk so much and so intimately with the peasants ? 

One thing especially aroused their liveliest suspicions. He 
had bailt a little house for himself at some distance from the 
family residence. Certainly this could have no other object 
than to serve as a centre for revolutionary meetings. Here 
they visited him at all hours of the night and day, searching 
for something compromising. They could, however, find 
nothing illegal, for the simple reason that he had built the 
place solely for the purpose of pursuing his mechanical 
studies and experiments without interruption or disturbance 
— a purpose they succeeded in effectually frustrating. Even 
this entire absence of anything on which to rest suspicion did 
not satisfy them, for they were, as a matter of fact, instigated 
by the hulacks or financial harpies of the district, who wanted 
to remove him so that they might have a hand in the admin- 
istration of the estate — from purely benevolent motives, of 
course. 

Life under these conditions of eternal police interference 
became unbearable ; he resolved to leave the estate for a time, 
and entered the Technical Institute at Moscow. Here he won 
golden opinions from all : his teachers were proud of his 
splendid abilities and earnest application to his studies ; his 
fellow- students loved him for his gentleness, and respected his 
stable character and firm convictions. Soon there gathered 
round him another circle of liberal-minded young men, as in 
his former schooldays, with the same results. 

The authorities keep an especially strict watch over the 
students in large cities, and Alexander and his room-mate 
speedily became suspected persons. Private enmity supplied 
what was lacking in Government suspicion, and a diabolical 
plot was hatched against him. 



188 A EuiNED Family. 



One day, as he was leaving' the Institute to return to his 
rooms, a fellow-student handed him a small packet and asked 
him to take it home. This student was the son of a priest 
who had been a bitter enemy of his father, but Alexander 
suspected no evil, and put the packet in his pocket. When he 
entered his lodgings he saw, to his consternation, that the 
police were in possession of the place, and had already 
arrested his room-mate. Thunderstruck, he stood still for a 
while, and was immediately seized. Conscious of his inno- 
cence, he attempted no escape, and the gendarmes continued to 
ransack the rooms for incriminating, documents, &c. They 
found some verses containing liberal views, written by his 
comrade, and then proceeded to search Alexander person- 
ally. The traitorous packet was discovered, and proved to 
contain Nihilistic literature. '' In the name of His August 
Imperial Majesty and because of criminal papers" found on 
him, they now made his formal arrest, and without any oppor- 
tunity of explanation the two young men were hurried off to 
gaol and placed in separate cells. 

The consternation of his mother, when she heard of her 
son's sudden imprisonment, may be more easily imagined than 
depicted in words. At once she hastened to Moscow to learn 
with what crime he was charged, and to try to procure his 
release. It was in vain. She could discover nothing but that 
the highest authorities had ordered that all suspected persons 
should be put in prison and detained there, until their case 
could be legally tried and sentence pronounced. All she could 
do was to strengthen herself and endure the inevitable. With 
much difficulty she did obtain permission to visit her son. 
When she entered his cell his appearance frightened her, so 
changed had he become in a short time. A settled melancholy 
was on his countenance, now pale and emaciated, and in his 
eyes she read despair. 

More than a year passed before he was brought to trial, and 
all that time he suffered the tortures of solitary confinement. 
The agony of mind this means to a young man full of life and 
energy, deprived of all opportunity of exchanging the 
simplest thoughts with his fellows, forbidden also either to 



A Ruined Family. 189 



read books or touch pen and paper, can be only faintly 
imagined by those who have had no similar experience. In 
that year he suffered more than in all the previous trials of his 
life together, though even in these the worry and harassment 
of police stupidity and suspicion had not been inconsiderable. 
One thing only preserved his mind from becoming unhinged. 
He was allowed to learn shoemaking. 

At last the day came on which his fate was to be decided. 
None but his mother and sisters were allowed to be present at 
the trial. The sentence pronounced on himself and his room- 
mate was fifteen years' penal servitude in the mines of Siberia, 
with loss of all civil rights. It was the refusal to betray the 
names of those students who belonged to their circle that 
induced the court to inflict this savage and barbarous 
sentence. 

His mother and his two eldest sisters went to the Governor 
to intercede for some mitigation of this severity. After 
looking into the case, and finding that Alexander was not yet 
of age, he commuted the sentence to eight years in Siberia as 
a compulsory colonist. This was no doubt much milder than 
the penal servitude in the mines, which meant simply capital 
punishment by long-drawn-out and fiendish methods, but to a 
young man of his abilities, just on the threshold of life, and 
with great hopes for the future, the difference did not seem 
great. He must leave everything, his home, his relations and 
friends, his plans of self-devotion for the good of his fellows, 
the application of his genius to the welfare of mankind. All 
that opened in prospect before him was the cheerless life of an 
exile in a far-off desolate region, under the constant sur- 
veillance of the police, without whose permission he could not 
take a step beyond the bounds of a prescribed circle, nor even 
send a letter to his home. 

One other privilege was won by the untiring efforts of his 
mother and sisters : he was allowed to travel at his own 
expense to his place of exile instead of going by the common 
etape. It was nothing much to look forward to, this tedious 
journey in a clumsy and open cart in the company of gen- 
darmesj yet he was glad when the day of departure arrived. 



190 A Ruined Family. 



He was to bid farewell to all tliat was dear to Ms heart, 
but lie was also to escape from the unendurable horrors 
of his solitary cell. He longed to see people, to hear 
the sound of their voices, to watch their daily occupation, 
and divert his painful thoughts by the study of Nature, 
which in its cruellest moods is kinder than the savagery of 
men. 

It took him four months to reach his destination, a wretched 
little village in the province of Irkutsk, about 200 kilometres 
from the capital. Here he must spend eight years without 
going out of bounds. By a great stroke of fortune his 
former room-mate was sent to the same place, and they could 
at least converse on matters of common interest to both, and 
keep up each other's courage by the exchange of their most 
intimate thoughts. Otherwise their seclusion without books 
or papers would have been but few removes from that of their 
solitary cells. 

A small portion of land was given them, which they 
cultivated, and the}- began to make shoes, in order to earn 
their living. There were, however, two obstacles that proved 
fatal to this occupation : they could neither procure the 
needful material nor sell their finished products. One thing 
after another they tried, but they were so fettered by restriction 
that want and despair frequently stared them in the face. 
Only twice a year or so could they receive news from home ; 
the mail took three months in winter-time, when the roads 
were good, and in spring and autumn six months. Not only 
so, but all missives and packages addressed to prisoners had 
to pass through the hands of the police. So it happened that 
things for winter use, despatched in time, would reach them 
the following summer, when they were of no use. Through 
this delay and irregularity Alexander and his comrade 
frequently suffered hunger and cold, for want of the money 
and goods detained on the way. 

They petitioned the authorities for permission to settle in 
some place nearer a town, where they could, at least, earn 
something for their support. This was finally allowed them, 
with increased stringency of police supervision. Still they 



A Ruined Family. 191 



were happier, in being able to procure by their labour the 
necessaries of life. 

After a time, Alexander managed to save sufficient to buy a 
locksmith's shop and tools. His fame as a skilled workman 
spread, and orders came in not only from his neighbours, but also 
from people at a distance of 200 kilometres. The police, 
however, would not allow him to go far from his house, 
fearing that he would spread his liberal views among his 
neighbours. He received a commission to build a church, 
through his engineering abilities, but the authorities vetoed it. 
They went so far that they would not allow him to marry, 
because his fiancee, being also a political exile, was deprived of 
her civil rights. 

Alexander sent in an application to be registered as a 
common peasant, that he might have, at least, some elementary 
rights of living, but for a long time received no answer. 
Growing wearied at the delay, he committed the enormous 
crime of visiting his betrothed without the permission of the 
police. They soon discovered his absence, raised a hue and 
cry, and despatched messages in all directions about his 
"escape." He was speedily captured by gendarmes and sent 
to his former place of exile. 

He would probably have had to drag on this weary existence 
for many years, had not the Governor-General of Eastern 
Siberia, a kind-hearted man, come to Irkutsk and visited all the 
exiles. When he found that Alexander was of no common stamp, 
and possessed such great skill in engineering and architecture, 
and was besides of a quiet and gentle disposition, he ordered 
him to be given a position in the workshop of one of the gold- 
mines of Nerchinsk. Soon, too, he recovered his civil rights, 
and his eight years of martyrdom closed. But it must not be 
imagined that his position was restored to him. He will never 
be free from the constant surveillance of the police, for all 
Russian exiles have to endure this, even after their sentence is 
worked out, if not of the regular police, of the secret spies, 
which is still worse. But his life became comparatively bear- 
able ; he is married, and allowed to support his family by his 
labour and skill. 



192 A EuiNED Family. 



As for his comrade in exile, he made several attempts at 
escape, but was recaptured and cruelly punished. Finally he 
disappeared, leaving no trace. None of his relatives and 
friends know of his whereabouts ; his mother died several 
years back from grief at the unhappy lot of her son. It may 
be he succeeded at last in escaping from his tormentors, and 
found refuge in a more hospitable land, but it is equally 
probable that he is no longer to be numbered among the living. 

Whatever his fate, this much is certain, that both these 
gifted young men are lost to the cause of human progress and 
liberty, through the brutal folly of a savage despotism, that is 
yet allowed the alliance and friendship of nations — or at least, 
their Governments and royal houses — that boast their own 
freedom of thought and action. It is not merely the material 
wealth of the empire that is criminally wasted by the stupidity 
and greed of the Russian Government and its horde of officials 
and secret police. The moral and spiritual resources that 
might uplift the nation in true well-being and prosperity are 
ruthlessly destroyed, and the most sacred things of human life 
trampled down in cynical savagery. Thousands of homes are 
desolated by the destruction of their most loved and gifted 
members ; tens of thousands of lives are blasted in their 
dearest hopes. The Russian Government, that plants its steel- 
shod feet on human hearts, must answer to the damning 
indictment — 

Have ye founded your thrones and altars, then, 
On the bodies and souls of living men ? 

So far, we have given the facts concerning Alexander as 
supplied by the sister referred to above. We now turn to the 
other members of the family. When the eldest son had thus 
been successfully removed, the hulachs, with their allies the 
tcliinovniks (officials), could proceed to their congenial task of 
getting the estate into their own clutches, under pretence 
of administering it as trustees, &c., and plunder to their hearts' 
content. This they did so effectually, that the helpless widow 
soon had to leave her home, with all its sacred associations with 
the lives of those who had been taken from her. 



A EuiisrED Family. 193 



But this was but "^ the beginning of the sorrows." One of 
•the daughters, because she was true to the dictates of her 
conscience, also fell under the ban of this enlightened Govern- 
ment, and has had to undergo a series of trials of great 
severity. We cannot do better than give her own account, as 
written in a letter, of her experiences. 

" Like my brothers and sisters, I was brought up in the 
Orthodox faith, and was accustomed from my childhood to 
regard the Orthodox Church as the only true one. But all the 
prayers that my teachers taught me, which I repeated every 
morning before the eikon of a saint, could not satisfy my 
soul, although I was but a child. When I had ended these 
prayers, I would lay my wants before God in my own words, 
though I never heard any one else do so. 

'^In 1871, I was placed in a school for girls of noble families 
in the city of X., where I was instructed in languages, art, and 
the other subjects that form the curriculum of such institu- 
tions. Religion, of course, was treated merely as a matter of 
form. Yet in my inmost heart was an earnest and deep piety. 
Soon, however, the temptations of the world became too strong 
for me, who was so feeble, and my childish confidence in God 
began to disappear. 

**In 1877, I was removed to the Grand Duke of Oldenburg's 
Seminary for young ladies of the nobility, in St. Petersburg. 
At that time I was sixteen years old. In this great city, with 
■all its temptations, among worldly relatives and friends, I was 
completely conquered by the world. Still I continued to 
observe, in mechanical fashion, the ceremonies of the Church. 
During this period I was often invited to Court, but its 
splendour and magnifi.cence never impressed me much. 

'^'^In the winter of '79 my father died and bitter trials befell 
our family; in the spring of the same year I finished my 
course at the seminary, and obtained a lucrative position as 
teacher in an Imperial school in the South of Russia. My 
salary was 1,500 roubles, with free rooms and attendance. I 
now tried to satisfy myself with worldly pleasures, but soon 
grew tired. Then I began to read philosophical works with 
-great eagerness, hoping, in this way, to still my soul's hunger 

13 



194 A Ruined Family. 

for truth and happiness, hut in vain. 1 was trouhled "with 
douhts concerning all the questions of life hoth here and here- 
after. To mj hunger for truth was added an intense fear of" 
death. These inward struggles I carefully concealed from my 
friends and associates. 

*'^In 1881, my eldest brother was exiled to Siberia, and 
shortly after we lost our estate. At the same time, one of 
my sisters was taken seriously ill. These and other trials 
induced me to begin to study the !N"ew Testament — a book I 
had for many years despised. In the summer I met my invalid 
sister at a health resort. She grew worse and worse every day,, 
and I could clearly see that her end was near. From this time 
I began to think seriously of my own death. 

^' I had to accompany my sister to her home. She wa& 
thoroughly weak, and we resolved to stop a few days with our 
mother at X. The Yolga steamer, on which we were travelling,. 
arrived at midnight, so to avoid disturbing our mother, we 
stayed on board until morning. The night was still and beau- 
tiful. I went up on deck to watch the dawn. It was a 
morning never to be forgotten. For the first time I got a 
glimpse of the beautiful morning star. In vaj heart I resolved 
it should be my guiding star for life. 

" Soon I had to leave my mother and sister, of whose recovery 
there was no longer any hope. When I bade her farewell I was 
almost disconsolate. 

*' I now studied the ISTew Testament with great ardour, and soon 
found that I could no longer attend the Orthodox Church, kiss 
the eikons of the saints, &c. I then told the directress of the 
sciiool that I must give up my post, and gave her my reasons 
for such a course. Both she and my fellow-teachers looked on 
it as folly, and asked me to stay on. 

•^ It was late in the night, and they tried to persuade me at 
least to stay until next morning, but I felt an inward prompting, 
as if some one were saying, "Do not wait; to-morrow it may 
be too late." It was more than fortunate for me that I did not 
stay. It was immediately telegraphed to my relatives that I 
had become insane, and they wished to put me into an asylum. 
Others regarded me as a dangerous o.gitator against .the Tsar 



A E.UINED Family. 195 



and State, and at once reported me to the police. The whole 
city was stirred. I had to escape secretly from the place by 
night, and fled to another town. There, too, the priests soon 
found me out, and wrote to the governor, persuading him to 
set the police on my track ; besides this they bribed a doctor to 
give a false certificate against me, and in other ways tried to 
get me exiled to Siberia. 

'^ These plans were, however, frustrated. . . . Just as I 
was leaving the city to escape from my persecutors another 
misfortune befell me : all my money was stolen from me, so 
that I was altogether destitute of means. But by a remarkable 
providence I was helped out of this terrible difficulty." 

So far her own account. This truly pious and quiet-natured 
young lady was hounded from place to place by the police, until 
at last she had to escape to a foreign country, and there remain 
for some time. But she always yearned to return to her native 
land. " However," she says, "I continually longed to come back 
to Eussia. The light and liberty that I found in Western coun- 
tries, instead of weakening this longing, increased it still more. 
My heart was full of deep compassion for my fatherland." 

Finally she succeeded in crossing the frontier in a marvellous 
way — she had no passport, but again was hunted about by the 
priests and the police. With untiring devotion and courage, 
she brave d her persecutors, and cheerfully faced cold, hunger, 
and pestilence, going from village to village to help and comfort 
the poor, downtrodden peasants, both in material and spiritual 
things. During the famine she bore her part in the relief 
work among the starving until her health broke down. 

The day of my arrival in St. Petersburg, another daughter 
of the s ame family set out for Siberia as a volunteer to nurse 
the sick in Tinmen, where spotted typhus and other terrible 
diseases were making fearful havoc among the prisoners and 
others. She had studied medicine in St. Petersburg, until this 
was forbidden by the all- wise authorities. Then she applied 
herself to the study of natural science, until a wealthy philan- 
thropist in St. Petersburg enabled her to go to Siberia, there 
to use her medical knowledge as a simple nurse. 

After a few weeks of zealous work among the patients she 



196 A EuiNED Family. 



Jierself caught the spotted typhus ; for some time all hope of 
her recovery was abandoned. The fever at last, however, 
abated, only to leave her a physical and nervous wreck ; she 
had become insane. 

In this condition she was sent home to her poor mother, 
whose bitter cup of sorrow was now surely full. But, no ; 
her second son, who was at home, whose nervous system had 
already been strained almost to the breaking point, could not 
stand the shock of seeing his loved sister insane. His own 
mind was unhinged, and he, too, had to be removed to an 
asylum. 

Such is the work of Mammon and priestcraft, but for which 
these innocent and truly patriotic men and women had been 
not merely happy in their own lives, but a means of inspiration 
and uplifting to the wretched peasants on their estate, who so 
sorely needed their help and teaching. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OLDEE EUSSIAN SECTS. 

Tsardom and Orthodoxy — Eeforms of Nikon — The Stanoveri — Popovtsi and 
Bespopovtsi — The "Antichrist-Tsar" — Specimens of Hymns — Contempt of 
Suffering — Stranniki (Wanderers) and Beguni (Fugitives) — How They are 
Made — A Sectarian's Story — Moltchalniki (Dumb) — An Advocate's Ex- 
perience — Priigoni (Dancers) and Chlisti (Flagellators) — Origin and 
Tenets — Initiation Ceremonies — Orgies — Slcoptsi (Mutilators) — Mutilation 
— Samonstrehitjeli (Suicides) — Nje Nashi (Agnostics) — Their Behaviour 
towards Authorities. 

Though Tsardom and the Orthodox Church in Russia are now 
so indissolnbly associated, they are not exactly twin powers in 
the matter of age. It was in the eighth century that some 
Greek missionaries proclaimed Christianity throughout the 
land, and introduced, at the same time, a certain degree of 
that civilisation which then followed the Greek tongue. The 
Church thus established took firm root in the land, but Tsardom 
was of later growth by four or five centuries. Before Russian 
unity was won, a terrible scourge of Tartar rule had to be 
borne for three hundred j^ears, just those three hundred years 
that saw the bowing of the English neck beneath the yoke of 
Dane, Norman, and Angevin, and left them at last a united 
nation. Under this reign of barbarism nearly all traces of the 
older culture were swept away; the Church remained as an 
institution, but the spirit was for the most part quenched. As 
regards the liturgy, many small departures from the usage of 
the Greek Catholic Church crept in, and a number of words 
were incorrectly spelled. Small matters these, but such as 
fasten with a j&rm hold upon a people of strong religious 
emotions and slight culture. The Tartars were subdued in the 
thirteenth century, and Tsardom triumphed, but the Church 
was unreformed until, at the instance of the patriarch Nikon, 
a revised liturgy was published in 1659. To us the reforms 



200 Older Etjssian Sects. 

seem trifliug; for example, making the sign of the cross with 
three lingers instead of two ; writing the name of Jesus with' 
a J instead of an I ; the use of the Swiss cross (arms of equal 
length) instead of the Eoman (with longer upright) ; turning 
'* against the sun," i.e., eastward, instead of *^with the sun," 
i.e., westward. But to the parties concerned these small things 
were indications of momentous issues. To the authorities they 
meant marching in line with the Holy Catholic Church. To' 
the malcontents they meant ^^adulteration of the pure Word 
of God." Here, then, was the beginning of the great separa- 
tist movement of the BasJcoIniM, which has continued to the 
present time, and given rise to countless sects. 

Of course, there was persecution ; the seceders were driven 
away, carrying with them the old books in which they believed 
(whence their name : 8taroveri=Old Believers), to the vast 
tracts of forest land on the upper courses of the Volga, that 
are even now the chief haunts of the sectarians of modern 
times. After the secession, there developed two main parties ;- 
those who retained the priesthood, and those who, when once 
they found themselves at loggerheads with the holy officials, 
asked what need there was of them at all, and decided the^ 
question in the negative. The former have remained prac- 
tically unchanged ; so little do they differ from the Established' 
Church that they are, for the most part, left in peace. They 
are, in fact, something like those good people at home who will 
not use the Revised Version of the Bible, and in other matters 
place the customary abov^ the accurate in their esteem. They 
are known as Popovtsi. 

The Bespopovtsi, those who have abolished the Holy Office,. 
are naturally more repugnant to the powers that be, and have 
continually suffered persecution at their hands. This has kept 
alive the fire of fanaticism ; according to the different con- 
ditions of time and place, or different impulses from individual 
leaders, the energy has taken different forms, and many and 
varied sects have, as a result, sprung into being. To dis- 
tinguish these from the Nonconformists, who owe their being 
to causes of quite modern date, they are usually grouped under 
the title of the Old Sects. They are far too numerous to 



Older Etjssian Sects. 201 

describe in detail, but tbe chief, among wbicli are tbe Stranniki 
(Wanderers), Beguni (Fugitives), MoUchalniki (Dnrxib) , Prugoni 
(Dancers), Ghlisti (nagellators),;SA;op^S'i (Mutilators), iV^'e Nashi 
(Agnostics), &c., deserve more than a passing notice, both on 
account of their own remarkable characteristics'^, which throw 
vivid light on the Russian character, and also because they 
have been, for the most part, entirely misrepresented. This 
misrepresentation is not confined to the Russian oJBQcial press, 
which contains, chiefly, gross caricatures of their teaching and 
conduct, but extends to those foreign accounts which have 
derived their materials from the turbid official sources. 

The more these despised and persecuted sects are known, the 
more apparent it becomes how greatly they have been 
misjudged. The entire course of their behaviour, even in its 
most fantastic and fanatical forms, is just a conscious or 
unconscious protest against unbearable despotism and the 
miserable condition of things resulting therefrom. To avoid 
coming under the intolerable yoke of the ^'Antichrist-Tsar," 
and infection by the wickedness inherent in the whole system, 
the *' Wanderers " and " Fugitives " leave their homes and 
become nomadic, or bury themselves in the primeval forest, or 
flee to the farthest steppes, in the face of the greatest dangers, 
in the certainty of severest toil and pain. Similarly, to avoid 
bringing more children into the hopelessly evil and corrupt 
"world they see around them, to mortify their own flesh and 
save their own souls from this " City of Destruction," the 
" Mutilators," both men and women, endure the most ghastly 
operations on their bodies. Also the '^ Dumb," in opposition 
to what seems to them a cruel and arbitrary Inquisition, rather 
than a legitimate examination, shut their mouths and refuse to 
hold parley with the servants of the Evil One. Who can wonder 
that grotesque fanaticism abounds among these sectarians? 
Hunted and persecuted, powerless against the perpetual greed 
and oppression of those in authority, without resources against 

* The most reliable and copious authority on the subject is Prugavin, a 
Russian writer, -who devoted immense labour to the work of research. In the 
following descriptions, I have lelied chiefly upon him for as much as has nofe 
come under my own observation, or been communicated to me by persons 
whom I could trust, though other authors have also been consulted. 



202 Older Russian Sects. 

hunger, cold, and misery of all kinds, and continually exposed 
to new developments of evil fortune, these miserable folk are 
subject to an unceasing strain, that naturally causes epidemics 
of lij steria, especially in the northern and eastern districts ; in 
these ecstatic fits they see visions, receive revelations, and leap 
and dance under the uncontrollable impulses that agitate them. 
Their very songs, as well as their doctrines, are written in 
pessimistic strains. Here are two examples : — 

Evil years have fallen upon us; bitter times have come; 

Perished is the faith that's true; Christ's faith has disappeared ; 

Unjust judges rule the land ; the Church's pastors are 

Roiigh drunkards. Crushed the people lie beneath oppression's yoke. 

Again : 

I cannot keep myself from tears ! 

Religion pines away and dies. 

Now godlessness blooms over all. 

Uprooted is the Spirit's law. 

The priestly place is girt with silver chains : 

We're ruled by lawless might instead of law. 

They who take bribes hold sway in all our towns. 

Corrupt ofl&cials rage in every place. 

The Spirit of Antichrist now lords it over us. 

I cannot keep myself from tears. 

In their conduct towards each other, and, indeed, towards all 
men, these sectaries are gentle and meek, and under the 
severest persecution, which frequently overtakes them, they 
display a fortitude that is almost superhuman. In fact, one 
might almost conclude from their demeanour under the most 
terrible punishment, which they endure without a single sound 
of complaint, that they find a certain satisfaction in suffering. 
Take an instance. Nearly twenty years ago, in the govern- 
ment of Volodga, a serf named Samarin entered a church 
during the hour of worship. Holding alighted candle he rushed 
up to the priest, snatched the chalice from his hand, emptied 
the contents on the floor, and crushed the sacred vessel underfoot, 
exclaiming, "^ I trample upon Satan's work." Of course he was 
instantly seized and brought to trial before the authorities. 
Questioned as to his object, he replied with the utmost calmness 



Older Eussiast Sects. 203 

that lie had done it to awaken the people from their godless 
slumber and to protest against the power of Antichrist. Under 
the fearful punishment to which he was sentenced he did not 
utter a murmur. 

Let us see the special characteristics of some of these sects. 
First the " Wanderers " and '■' Fugitives." Their roots lie deep 
in Russian history. Long before the institution of serfdom, in 
the twelfth century, the semisavage free men betook themselves 
in large numbers to the forest depths and distant steppes to 
escape the newly-established Muscovite despotism. In later 
times they fled from slavery under the tyrannous landlords. 
At the present day they seek in flight refuge from oppressive 
taxation., forced military service, ofl&cial rigour, police persecu- 
tion, and other nameless miseries. Small wonder, then, that 
they are the most numerous of all the sects, and enjoy the 
reputation among the police of being the "most dangerous." 

But it was only a little more than thirty years ago that they 
assumed the characteristics of a "sect," properly speaking. A 
certain Sovva took refuge from persecution in the village of 
Marosova, government Oloujetsk, and for a long time secretly 
taught the people that they should flee from the wickedness of 
the world and the tyranny of the officials into the forests, and 
gained many adherents. The authorities sought to arrest him, 
but he received timely warning and escaped to Archangel. 
The leader of the sect at the present day is said to be one 
Nikanov, who numbers many persons of repute among his 
adherents. 

There are two divisions of this sect : the sJcritniM, who 
carefully conceal both themselves and their tenets, and the 
lyristano djershdjeteli, or those posted near the steamboat 
stations on the Volga and other rivers, whose houses have 
secret doors, subterranean passages, &c. Their business is to 
receive and conceal wandering brothers, who mostly make 
their appearance by night. All who belong to this sect must 
destroy their passports and all documents that could give any 
information about any one. Such are held to be Satan's 
instruments. A new baptism is also necessary, and is per- 
formed as follows : A square enclosure is made by means of 



204 Older Eussian Sects. 



boards in tlie river. The candidate stands stark naked between 
bis two godfathers^ their faces turned to the east. The leader 
reads prayers, cursing Satan and spiritual and temporal 
authorities. The neophyte's passport is rent to pieces as a 
symbol that he has for ever broken " with the power of this 
world." He is then immersed in the water. After the cere- 
mony he is clothed in a white garment that reaches to his feet, 
and receives a new name. A lengthy fast is prescribed for 
bim, and he takes a solemn oath never to submit to spiritual 
or w orldly authority, for they are the work of Satan ; to regard 
all who live in the present system of society as Satan's servants; 
never to take up a passport, pay taxes, or fulfil any kind of 
official duty ; to have no fixed home, but to live the life of a 
wanderer only. 

Every new member must be instructed in the following 
tenets : — Antichrist is at the head of the present organisation 
of State, Church, and society. Tsar, governors, metropolitans, 
and all other officials are Satan's servants. The so-called 
Divine service, sacraments, religious ceremonies, &c., simply 
repress true and living Christianity. One must pray in secret 
without any forms whatever. Women are in every respect free 
and equal with men. Marriage is based on the most unrestrained 
freedom. Some say, ^'It is not a civil or religious ceremony 
that makes true marriage, but a mutual sympathy and harmony." 
*' Marriage as a sacrament and civil act is out of date. Men 
and women must live together as they best please to preserve 
the human race," say others. 

Among some groups marriage is celebrated in the following 
manner: Having received a promise of marriage from a woman 
or girl, the man goes to an appointed meeting-place, and there 
carries off his bride with some show of force,* either to his 
house, if he be of the 'pristano djershdjeteli referred to above, 
or somewhere in the forest. Then they live a wandering life 
from village to village, district to district, staying a longer or 
shorter time with their sisters and brothers. This union 

* The student of anthropology will, of course, recognise in this a survival 
of ancient customs, a relic of the times when marriage by capture was a real 
and not merely a symbolical event. 



Older Russian Sects. 205 

endures so long as the consorts agree. Should strife arise, 
they go their several ways. The same freedom is allowed to 
the children, who are brought up to be " Wanderers " too. 

In some places the free marriage is celebrated by the man 
and woman walking through a village side by side, each holding 
an end of the same handkerchief. 

Among these and many other sectaries the Tsar is, for the 
most part, regarded as Antichrist personified. It is a common 
thing to find among them a curious picture, in which he is 
depicted in royal robe and crown, receiving a candle from 
Satan, who is saying, '' Be thou the worker of my will." At 
the side of the Tsar the Orthodox Church is portrayed as a 
common strumpet. The sectaries continue to increase in 
number, but their mysticism is gradually giving place to 
rationalism, and instead of the ideas concerning Antich rist we 
find that the Tsar is simply looked upon as Despotism incar- 
nate, beneath whose iron yoke the Russian people are crushed 
to the ground, and are in a perpetually perishing condition. 

The way in which misery leads to religious fanaticism is 
well illustrated by the following evidence, given by a 
sectary before the tribunal that heard his case. '' I lived in 
the government E., and was body-slave to a landlord, but, 
thanks to my ability to write and skill in reckoning, I was 
promoted to be bookkeeper on Prince B.'s estate. The Prince 
was of an altogether evil disposition ; licentious, spendthrift, 
and tyrannical, he had ruined the mushiJcs without mercy. As 
bookkeeper I lived a happier life than the rest of the peasants, 
and had nothing to complain of, until misfortune suddenly 
overtook me. I loved Prasconia, the starost's daughter, and 
my love was returned. Our mutual passion was so strong that 
we could not live apart. She was a splendid girl — beautiful, 
high-spirited, and steadfast. All the lads contended for her 
favour, but she gave to none so much as a glanc e ; to me alone 
was she gracious. We were already beginning to speak of the 
wedding day, when, to our ruin, the Prince, our master, came 
on the scene. The young girl took his fancy immensely; he 
desired to possess her. 

" One day two of the Prince's men seized Paracha (her pet 



206 Older Russian Skcts. 



name) in the street and carried her to him by force. The 
young- girl struggled to break loose, entreated, wept, and 
shrieked for mercy — there was no help. Paracha was shut up 
in the Prince's house, and I do not know what happened to 
her there. What I do know is that I could not brook this 
injury. I cursed the life of a serf, and one dark night set fire 
to the Prince's house and made off to the forest. Prom forest to 
forest, from government to government I wandered, and knew 
no peace by night or day, like Cain who had killed his brother 
Abel. At every sound I heard in the forest I started and 
trembled like a leaf, fearful lest they should come and seize 
me and throw me into prison. Sometimes at evening I would 
come to an izha and peep in through the window. The whole 
family would be sitting round a lutchina (a lighted pine-splint, 
set on a stand, used to avoid the expense of tallow candles) , the 
father making lapti (a kind of shoes), the mother spinning, 
the daughter sewing, the children building houses with bits of 
wood. Poverty was there, but they were all warm, they 
looked contented, and feared nothing. And I — I was alone, 
abandoned, and had not where to lay my head ! 

*' At last I met an anchorite in the forest. The sun had set 
one evening when I saw an old man with snow-white hair 
come out of what might have been the cave of a bear, covered 
by the brushwood. He dipped himself three times in the 
stream, resumed his clothes, bowed to the four points of the 
compass, and turned again towards his cave. I sprang towards 
him. 'Holy man,' I cried, * do not refuse me a kind word.' 

" ' Who are you ? ' asked the old man. 

^' * Pear nothing, I am only a peaceful fugitive.' 

*' ' You are not a robber ? ' — ' No.' 

" f What is your faith ? ' 'I know nothing about it myself,' 
I answered. * I have not been taught.' 

'' ' Will you learn to know the true faith ? ' — ' Yes.' 

" ' Well then, follow me ! ' 

'' We entered an underground cavern. It was somewhat 
spacious, but gloomy. The walls were wooden, there was a 
stone table, and on the table a book lay open. There was no 
bed, but on the stone floor a hide was spread. The old man 



Older Eussia.n Sects. 207 

bade me sit on a stone, and began asking me questions. I told 
him everything without reserve, *I see,' said the old man, 
' that you are unfortunate, that you are in Satan's kingdom, 
and that there you are on the road to perdition. Will you 
find peace for your soul and gain the kingdom of heaven ? ^ 
' I will.' ' Well, then, listen to me. I, my son, have long 
sought the true faith. I have tried all religions, and have at last 
come to the conclusion that it cannot be found anywhere ; the 
whole world is wandering in darkness. The authorities 
persecute us, because they are servants of Satan or Antichrist ; 
the common people know not what to do. ... I have therefore 
determined to win God's grace by prayer and fasting. Let 
men retire to the forests and deserts to escape lies, ruin, and 
Satan's kingdom ! Do you also fly from the world, fast and 
pray. Then shall you understand the true faith, and peace 
shall descend upon you.' 

'^'^ After the conversation with the old man I passed the whole 
night without a wink of sleep. He prayed all the time 
kneeling upon sharp stones and pieces of broken glass. When 
morning came he left his cave, dipped three times in the 
stream, and bowed to north, south, east, and west. 

" The old man's speech, his long, white beard, his emaciated 
body, his mild expression, his long, flowing robe, girt 
about his waist by a coarse rope, his bleeding feet 
and knees, made so deep an impression upon me that I 
determined to become his disciple. 'I will forsake 
the world and retire to a desert place,' I exclaimed 
to myself. * I will pray and fast ; I shall at length 
find peace, and gain my soul's salvation." I dug out 
a cave in the forest, where I settled, and imposed on myself a 
strict fast, taking nothing but bread and water. Three years 
passed in this manner; my fame spread through the surrounding 
country, and many came to consult me concerning their soul's 
salvation. All were seeking for truth, for the true faith, for 
God. With one accord all declared that Antichrist ruled the 
whole world; that nowhere on earth could truth be found; 
that judges and authorities committed only unrighteousness 
and oppression, that they are the devil's servants. 



*20S Older Uussian Sects. 

" Yet I knew no more than tliey how to eonusel them, how to 
help them. I could only weep Avith them, ajui fast till my 
strength gaye out." 

So runs his testimon}' before the court of justice. This man 
was afterwards led asti'ay by one of those unscrupiilous 
impostors who nnd these emotional religionists only too easy a 
prey. He was seized by the authorities and cast into prison. 
Having made his escape, he wandered from province to 
province throughout the land, from the Upper A^olga to 
Caucasia, from Moscow to Siberia, hiding by day, and at night 
pursuing his journey, everywhere warning the people against 
the rule of Antichrist, and urging them to ilee from the falsity 
and corruption of the world. Frequently arrested, he told the 
authorities he was Grod's servant, seeking to save his soul from 
the power of Satan, his servants, and sin. 

These sectaries are most numerous in the governments of 
Petersbui'g, Vologda, Jai'oslavl, Tver, Olonjetsk, Kastroma, 
Kasan, and Yjatka. 

The Jlolfchahuhi, or the Dumb, are closely connected with 
the Beguni, and share most of their opinions, Avith the addition 
that they persisteiitly refuse to answer any of the otlieial 
questions concerning their name, age, rank, &c., and before the 
judges at their trials maintain an unbroken silence. The 
sentences passed upon them, though for the most part entailing- 
banishment to Eastern Siberia, they hear with the greatest 
unconcern, and leave the court without saying a word. Some 
of them not only refuse thus to parley with the ministers of 
Antichrist, but even eschew all speech among themselves as 
leading to sin. 

An advocate, to whom had been allotted the duty of 
defending a moUchalniki, describes his experience in the fol- 
lowing account. 

"I had been entrusted with the defence of one of these 
sectaries. I Avent to the prison where he was confined, and 
asked permission to visit him. After a few minutes they 
brought me into the presence of a powerfully-built man of 
medium height ; he Avore trousers of ample size, over Avhich 
Avere dravm boots that came up to his knees, and a Irijtan, 



Older Eussian Sects. 209 

such as the Russian serfs are accustomed to use. Long hair 
and a long heard encircled his face, which wore a mild and 
resigned expression. His age must have been about forty. 
Silently he advanced to the table and gave me greeting. 

" ' The Court has confided your case to me/ I said, turning 
to him. He laid his right hand on his breast and bowed. 
* Are you willing that I shall represent you before the Court? ' 
He again bowed, shaking his head in dissent. ^ Why do you 
not wish me to take up your cause ? ' The sectary pointed to 
the saint's picture in the corner of the room. ' You entrust 
your cause to Providence ? ' I asked. He nodded his head in 
affirmation. ' Yes, but you cannot deny that the intervention 
of an experienced advocate can present your case in the most 
favourable light and do much to bring about your release ? ' 
He smiled in an unconvinced manner and shruggred his 
shoulders. ' Do not forget that by obstinately keeping silence, 
and refusing to give your name, you render yourself liable to 
be treated as a vagabond, and run a great risk of being 
banished to the furthest parts of the empire.' He made a 
gesture to show that it was of no concern to him, and remained 
mute. * Will you not speak ? Ah well — perhaps you will 
consent to answer my questions in writing? I am not your 
judge, you know, but your advocate whom you can hardly 
regard as an enemy.' The sectary continued to gaze at me 
with the same look of mildness and resignation without 
opening his mouth. I found it useless to try to persuade 
him. ' Do as you please,' I said, * but, believe me, I have no 
other interest in meddling with your affairs than my simple 
desire to help you.' He crossed his arms over his breast and 
bowed low. 

" ' Well, what do you think of him ? ' asked the warder, as 
he fetched me from the prisoner. ' The man has made a deep 
impression on me. He must have lost his senses.' ^Ibeg 
your pardon, he is simply a confirmed fanatic. There are 
many such in these parts. His behaviour in prison is blame- 
less ; he obeys all the rules, works diligently, never refuses to 
lend a hand to his comrades. He is thoroughly sober and reli- 
gious ; you can't pick a hole in him at all. There is only one 

14 



210 Older Ettssian Sects. 

thing — lie would sooner let himself be killed than speak a 
word.' 

. '' Eight days later he was sentenced. To the end nothing of 
consequence had been brought against him. ' The whole trouble 
was this : An unknown man was found in the market-place of 
a little village by the village constable. Since he could get no 
answer to the questions he put to him, he brought him before 
the commissary, where he was searched and found to be with- 
out a passport. Refusing to give his name and occupation, he 
was treated according to Russian law as a vagabond, and handed 
over to justice. Despite all admonitions from the President of 
i}he Court he remained dumb, and although nothing else was 
brought against him but that he had no passport and would 
not speak, the Court was compelled to banish him to Eastern 
Siberia. In silence and deep calm he heard his sentence. Not 
a muscle moved in his face. ^ Eeniove the prisoner,' cried the 
President. The sectary, maintaining continuously his expres- 
sion of tranquillity and indifference, bowedhimself to the judge 
and followed the warder." 

Sometimes these ^^dumb" are found in large groups, but 
they mostly lead an isolated life in the remotest forests or on 
the distant steppes. 

Still further advanced on the road of fanaticism are the 
Prugoni (Dancers) and Chlisti (Flagellators) . The former 
believe in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon man, which only 
takes place as far as the majority are concerned during their 
religious assemblies, when by the exercise of dancing and 
prayer a sufficient degree of ecstasy has been induced. Still, 
there are two or three persons in each group who are believed 
to be continuously inspired. One great point in the doctrine of 
the founder of this sect was that the end of the world was at 
hand, so that all who would be saved must purify themselves by 
repentance, confession, ascetism, and the religious exercises 
above mentioned. 

But it is among the Chlisti that this kind of fanaticism 
attains its most interesting development. A peasant named 
Danilo Eilipovitch, an unusually pious man, of the province of 
Kostroma, gave the initial impulse to this sect. For many 



Older Russian Sects. 211 

years lie occupied a cave near the river Volga, and busied him- 
self in prayer and reading holy books. But finally he stuffed 
all his books into a sack and threw it in the stream, declaring 
that "revelations come from the living God alone." This 
Danilo Filipovitch is said to have received the " indwelling of 
the Lord of Hosts " at a public meeting, while surrounded by 
his followers. Now his adherents are found in all parts of the 
empire, in the larger towns and many of the provinces. They 
call themselves " Christi," or Christs, for reasons that will be 
seen below, but the Orthodox call them in parody " Ghlisti,'' or 
Magellators, because this forms part of their religious 
exercise. 

The distinctive doctrine of this sect is that the Godhead 
dwells, either latent or active, in every man. In fact, man, 
made in the image of God, is the only being we can see or 
imagine. This is, of course, closely connected with the Biblical 
account of the Divine Incarnation in Jesus Christ. According 
to the Chlisti Jesus was just a man like ourselves, but by His 
self-sacrifice and holiness He gave scope in His life for the in- 
dwelling and actualisation of the innate Deity and became God. 
This development is possible for every one. '' Every man can 
become a Christ, and every woman a Holy Virgin." It simply 
depends on the quality and degree of our faith, our self-denial, 
and consequent spiritual ecstasy. When through hysteric 
leaping and dancing the ecstasy reaches its height, the Holy 
Spirit descends on men and transforms them into God-men. 

The practical instructions given by Filipovitch to his disciples 
were of the following kind : — 

" Young men, drink no intoxicants, neither marry. 
Married men, live with your wives as with sisters. 
Avoid all unrighteousness, live in peace with each other. 
Carefully conceal your tenets and do not betray them even under the 
knout, fii"e, or axe." 

It is a natural consequence of the doctrine of the indwelling 
of God in man that these sectaries highly value the worth of 
manhood, elevating the Divine in it to an object of worship. 
At their radjenije, or meetings, which are always held at night 
so as to escape the notice of the police, their leaders, both men 



212 Older Russian Sects. 

and women — for the different sexes are on a perfect equality — 
sit in the midst. The other sectaries, with a view to Divine 
revelations, betake themselves to such bodily and spiritual 
exercises, e.g., prayer and dancing, leaping, &c., as will induce 
the desired ecstasy. 

The close connection between this kind of religious orgy and 
the excitation of the sexaal instincts has frequently brought 
it about that these nocturnal assemblies terminated with a 
svalni grech, or unrestrained promiscuous intercourse. Although 
one cannot place implicit confidence in official gazettes nor in 
the communications of Ghlisti reconverted to the Orthodox 
Church, there remains little doubt that these excesses have not 
only taken place in the past, but also occur at times in the 
present day. The seeming contradiction between this and 
their tenets as described above is sometimes explained by the 
assertion that what takes place under " inspiration " is quite 
different in kind from ordinary marriage. Of course the real 
explanation rests upon obvious physiological facts. 

A Ghlist who reverted to the Orthodox Church has given a 
description of liis initiation to the authorities. According to 
him the Ghlisti inculcate a life in accordance with God's law, 
plain feeding, avoidance of all marriage or other feasts, total 
abstinence, celibacy and prayer, and practical godliness. As 
he was a seeker after truth and his soul's salvation, he applied 
to be admitted to this sect. The leader explained to him how 
he must live, held a long conversation with him, and read 
prayers and the Gospel on his behalf. Satisfied with his 
sincerity he consented to his admission, and appointed a day 
for the ceremony. On the appointed day he was placed under 
the care of a young girl, who acted as his godmother. Clad 
in white robes, with a burning candle in his hand, he was led 
by her into the room where the members were gathered in a 
circle, each holding a lighted candle. Following her example 
he bowed low before the assembly, whereon all stood up. 
Approaching the leader the young girl bowed three times, and 
said, pointing to the neophyte, " This slave of God seeks to 
save his soul." 

The leader thereupon addressed a long discourse to him, and 



"Glder Eussian Sects. 213 

administered an oath, that he would live according to the rules 
of the denomination, devote himself body and soul to God and 
holy things, and keep as a close secret all that he should see 
and hear. 

When the oath had been taken, the prayers and ceremonies 
began. All commenced to spin round with giddying speed. At 
first each one twirled round with increasing rapidity on the 
heel of the right foot ; then the company ranged themselves 
along the walls and ran barefoot after each other in a circle, 
stopped, danced, flogged each other, and made all kinds of 
contortions, uttering an inconceivable outcry. 

In the midst of the din could be distinguished these cries 
above the rest : " O God ! O King ! Saviour ! Spirit ! Spirit ! 

O " The long white robes of the sectaries over their 

otherwise naked bodies, their pale faces, the wild outcry in the 
semi-darkness — all made a weird scene that struck the new- 
comer with terror. 

The dance ended with a perfect orgy ; men and women both 
stripped off their garments, threw themselves on the ground, 
went on all fours, leaped on one another, and abandoned all 
restraint. 

These excesses are, as has been said, the exact result one 
would expect from the conditions. It is evident, however, 
that here, too, as in the case of the simulated marriage by rape 
among the Beguni, we have a survival of ancient customs. As 
Dr. Dale once remarked, it is a mistake to speak of the 
conversion of Europe to Christianity. Individuals have been 
converted, but with the nations it is simply a case of a 
Christian veneer being applied by State authority, and genuine 
heathenism survives in much of our "Western civilisation." 
So among these people, who are not of Indo-European race, 
the customs described above are remnants of an older phallic 
worship ; there are many proofs of this in other practices of 
theirs, which could be adduced if it were our present purpose 
to enter at length into this branch of the subject. 

The Skoptsi hold the same faith and practise the same 
ceremonies as the Chlisti, but are far more thoroughgoing in 
their measures to subdue the flesh. Believing that the only 



214 Older Russian Sects. 

way to give scope to the indwelling Deity is to thoroughly subdue 
the flesh, and that the only way of accomplishing that is by 
" cutting it off/' they submit themselves to emasculation. The 
psychical process which leads them to this is illustrated in the 
case of the peasant Brumin, who told his story before the 
judges. Asked how he came to undergo the operation, he told 
how he began with an aversion to flesh meat, and lived solitary 
in fasting and prayer. Strange visions troubled him by night 
and day, angels and demons fighting for the possession of his 
soul. He wanted to enter a monastery, but his parents were 
opposed to it. Thoroughly preoccupied with the thought of 
saving his soul, he dreamed only of religious sacrifices and pious 
works. One day he met in the forest a wandering monk, who 
asked him to put him on, the highway. As they went Brumin 
conversed with the monk about his spiritual needs and visions. 
The latter listened attentively and said, " If you will save your 
soul, you must kill the flesh." Brumin was quite ready to 
make an end of that flesh which stood in the way of his 
salvation. The monk then performed the operation on the 
spot and disappeared, leaving the peasant senseless, and 
bathed in blood. It was close upon morning when Brumin 
returned to consciousness, and dragged himself home with 
difficulty. It came out afterwards that this monk had 
emasculated more than eighteen persons, children among the 
number. 

To avoid the observation of the police, these operations are 
performed in as out-of-the-way places as possible. Men, 
women, and children alike submit themselves to it; the 
contagious enthusiasm being sufiiciently powerful to overcome 
the natural terror. The method used formerly to be by burning 
with red-hot iron ; cutting instruments are now for the most 
part used, and it may be imagined that, with the rough instru- 
ments at their command and the not too careful handling, loss 
of life is not unknown. 

There is among the SJcoptsi the same rapid spinning and 
dancing as with the Chlisti, and the survival of the worship of 
the generative force of Nature personified is even more marked. 
The account of some of their ceremonies in connection with 



Older Russian Sects. 215 

the so-called " Communion " reads more like a description of 
Astarte worship than anything Christian. 

Yet the members of both these sects whom I have met in 
Samara and other parts of Russia were distinguished from the 
surrounding Orthodox peasantry simply by their decent and 
intelligent appearance, and all with whom I conversed about 
them gave unanimous testimony that they were inoffensive, 
sober, and altogether exemplary in their behaviour to their 
fellow men. 

One of my friends told me that he had a discussion with one 
of the leading SJcoptsi, and attempted to refute their doctrine 
by referring to the command to " multiply and fill the earth." 
He replied, ^'^Do you really believe that it is to fulfil that 
command that men and women live together ? Is it, moreover, 
your candid conviction that it can be your duty to bring an}^ 
more human beings into this world to suffer all this misery we 
see about us — to perish both body and soul ? " 

In later times, with the growth of the more rational inclina- 
tions before referred to, many of these people have abandoned 
the doctrine of outward emasculation, and inculcate in its 
place the slaying of the flesh by spiritual weapons and complete 
abstinence from all sexual intercourse. They are known as 
" spiritual SJcoptsi." 

The profound pessimism which characterises all these sects, 
and is the natural result of the miserable conditions of life 
from which they see no escape, finds its logical outcome in the 
extreme teaching of the Samoistrehitjeli, or self-destroyers. 
The vast forest tracts of the upper Volga have been the 
theatre of the most tragic dramas. Two centuries ago, more 
than ten thousand of these raskolmhi, hunted and persecuted 
like wild beasts, sought to escape the tyranny of the " Anti- 
christ Tsar," and enter the glories of the heavenly kingdom by 
martyrdom through the "baptism of fire." In many places, 
the spots are shown where these holocausts took place, and 
are visited in secret by troops of rasJcolniJci pilgrims. No one who 
knows anything at all of what the Russian peasants generally, 
and the sectaries in particular, have to undergo, can wonder 
that self-destruction has become the special tenet of a sect. 



216 Older Russian Sects. 

whose preachers proclaim that the world is hopelessly cor- 
rupt and is on the point of perishing entirely; one must, 
therefore, escape from this life of lies and sin ; one must 
die. 

Their songs are characterised by a hopeless despair, a 
burning hatred of life. 

There's no salvation in tliis world, nay, none at all ! 
Here flattery rules, false flattery, o'er all, alone. 
Death, and death only, can to us salvation bring : 
There is no God in this dark world, none can be found ; 
Folly and lies alone, whose tale no limit hath. 

The Russian newspapers have, in late years, contained grim 
descriptions of the manner in which the sectaries carry out the 
dictates of their faith. Unreliable as these papers are in all 
matters concerning these " heretics," we know from other 
sources that in this case they base their descriptions upon 
facts. Here is an extract : — 

" The proselyte signifies his wish to die. He is brought to 
an empty izba, into which the leader accompanies him, and 
reads prayers. After a time, the door opens, and " Symbol of 
Bloody Death " enters ; it is a tall, poweriuUy-builb man, 
clothed in a red robe. He places a cushion over the head of 
the seeker after death, sits on it, and remains there until the 
unhappy fanatic is smothered." 

The details in this account may not be altogether reliable, 
but it is certain that ever since the beginning of this century 
the preaching of these singular teachers has spread through 
the region of the Upper Yolga, urging the people to escape by 
self-destruction the abominable rule of Antichrist. Among 
these apostles a certain monk, named Falalei, had a great 
reputation. In his forest home he devoted himself to prayer, 
reading holy books and discussing religion with his visitors. 
It was impossible, he said, to live a true and holy life in this 
world of lies and sin ; the only escape was suicide ; one must 
die for Christ. 

Many followers adopted this teaching. One night eighty 
persons gathered in an underground resort, specially prepared 
for this purpose, by the river Perevosinka. Great quantities 



Older Eussian Sects. 217 

of straw and pitch had been stored there, that they might 
perish in the flames rather than fall into the hands of the 
police, if the alarm were given. 

The proceedings began with prayer and fasting. For- 
tunately, a woman, who was not altogether sound on this 
matter of suicide, took advantage of the darkness to escape, 
and told the authorities what was going on. The villagers 
made for the place, but the sentinel, posted at the mouth of 
the cave, gave the alarm, "Antichrist comes ! Save yourselves." 
" We will never fall into the enemy's hands alive," shrieked 
the fanatics, setting fire to the straw. The peasants and the 
police tried to extinguish the flames, and to snatch the brands 
from the suicides. They resisted, flung themselves into the 
fire, and slaughtered each other with axes, crying, *'We die 
for Christ ! " Some were saved, and the leaders either im- 
prisoned or banished. But this gave no check to the spread 
of the doctrine. One of the prisoners, Sukhov, a peasant, 
escaped, and continued his preaching with such success, that 
in one village thirty-five people slaughtered each other, going 
from house to house, until only one was left, who fell by his 
own hand. The details were given by a woman who was the 
unwilling witness of the massacre, and called the police — but 
too late. 

Belonging to the same general stock, but with an altogether 
rationalistic development, are the Nje JSfashi, or Agnostics, a 
most interesting sect of more recent origin. They live a 
wandering life, and refuse all connection with the authorities 
of Church and State, as do the RaskolniJci generally, but they 
go a step farther, and deny all religion as well. Vasili 
Shyshkov, of Saratov, now banished to Siberia, is considered 
their founder. He belonged to one sect after another, but 
found no peace for his spirit. Then he severed his connection 
with all communities, and began to study the sacred writings 
on his own account, to find the way to God. But, instead, he 
discovered all sorts of contradictions in the Bible, and after 
much inward struggle rejected everything, Bible, God, religion, 
and the life to come. There was no influence of "the exact 
sciences " in all this. To the question, " How was the world 



218 Older Russian Sects. 

created ? " his answer was, " It has not been created ; it has 
existed from all eternity." 

The examination of one of these Deniers or Agnostics, a 
peasant trader, named Chichkin, before a magistrate will give 
a good idea of their attitude. 

" Who are you ? " asked the judge. 

^^ Don't you see that I am a man ? Are you blind ? " 

" What is your religion ? " — " I have none." 

" What God do you believe in ? " 

"I don't believe in any God at all. God belongs to you. 
You discovered Him. I don't want Him." 

" Do you kneel to the devil, then, and pray to him ? " said 
the judge, with irritation. 

" I kneel neither to God nor devil, because I have no need of 
either. The devil is your discovery. God and the devil, with 
Tsars, priests, and officials, are your affair. You are all 
children of the same father ; I don't belong to you, and I 
won't have anything to do with you." 

These people naturally reject all ownership as now under- 
stood. Their mode of "exchange" is exceedingly simple. "If 
you want anything, and I give it you, take it. When I want 
something from you, you shall give it me in return." Chichkin 
would have given meat, clothes, money — anything whatever to 
the first comer, to satisfy a real need. But he would not give 
a single kopek for tobacco, wine, &c. "1 would rather throw 
my money into the sea than help you to poison yourself with 
tobacco," he would say. If anyone said, " Thank you," to 
him, he replied, " Stuff ! you have what you want, you have 
eaten ; go away content and happy." 

In their efforts to be natural they neither shave nor cut their 
hair, and use no spirits or tobacco, so as to preserve bodily 
health and the force and beauty of the spirit. They dream of 
a life in which every one works for himself, satisfies his needs 
out of the earth's produce, makes what goods he wants, and 
avoids all superfluity. They are perfectly willing to help their 
neighbours, but altogether refuse to be compelled to work. 
When Chichkin was in prison he was shaved, and according to 
the rules, he should then have begun to work, but he wouldn't. 



Older Russian Sects. 219 



'^ You have brought me here by force ; T didn't ask you to put 
me in prison," he said. **You must therefore feed me and 
work for me. Let me go, and I shall work for myself and 
never trouble you for aid." Though they beat him unmerci- 
fully, fastened him to a wheelbarrow, shut him in a solitary 
cell, gave him bread and water only — he was unmoved. 

Women have complete equality with men, and their only 
union is that of free love. As a protest against the present 
form of marriage they have given up the terms man and wife, 
and say simply " friend." This is illustrated by the extract 
from a trial, where a man, a woman, and a little girl were before 
the magistrate. 

" Is that your wife ? " said the judge. " No ; that is not my 
wife." 

" But you live with her ? " " Yes ; but she is not mine, she 
belongs to herself." 

" Is that your husband ? " he asked the woman. " No ; that 
is not my husband," she said. 

" What is he, then ? " asked the astonished judge. " I need 
him, and he needs me; that is all. But we belong each to 
ourselves." 

"What of the girl, does she belong to you? " " No, she is 
of our blood, but she is not ours ; she belongs to herself." 

" What fools 3'ou are ! " exclaimed the judge, impatiently. 
" Does that coat you are wearing belong to you ? " " No ; it 
does not belong to me." 

" What do you wear it for, then ? " "I wear it so long as 
you don't take it from me. This skin was once . on a sheep's 
back, now it is on mine ; to-morrow it may, perhaps, be on yours. 
Why do you want me to know to whom it belongs ? Nothing 
belongs to me except my thoughts, my understanding, &c." 

Pessimists and agnostics as they are, they yet have an ideal 
which they believe will be realised in the distant future. A 
last judgment shall come on the earth, a terrible struggle 
between the evil and the good, a kind of Battle of Armageddon, 
in which the good will triumph, and a kingdom founded on 
truth and justice will be established on the earth. 

There is very little connected knowledge of this strange sect. 



220 Older Russian Sects. 

since they naturally have no definite organisation or creed. 
They are found one here and one there, and always refuse to 
give any account whatever of themselves or their antecedents. 
This is illustrated by the account of an official who visited the 
prisons. After describing his experience with one of these folk, 
he goes on to say : — 

" I came across another original of the same kind and sect, in 
prison also. In the prison rolls he had been described as 
Tchnochruistov, but no one knew his real name, or where he 
came from. I met him in a Siberian prison, where there were 
confined more than eight hundred prisoners. 

" This man was of a milder and more communicative tempera- 
ment than the former, so it was easier to get into conversation 
with him. He rejected God and all religion, chiefly because of 
the absence of all palpable or visible proof of God's presence or 
utility. He pointed out the contradiction between real life and 
religious teaching. 

" * The priest tells you that God is good and just, and that not 
a hair of a man's head falls without God's will. That sounds 
beautiful. In this prison there are eight hundred of us at pre- 
sent, and we shall all go to penal servitude. At least fifty of 
these are entirely innocent. I know that from reliable sources, 
and many are banished just because oi: their faith in God and 
sincere piety. They are therefore unjustly condemned. I say 
nothing about myself ; I don't belong to your lot, and your 
God has nothing to do with me. But why does He not protect 
and defend the innocent ? They trust in Him, you know, and 
worship Him. Some of them pray all night and bow their 
heads to the ground while they cry to Him from on their 
knees ; but all the same they are flogged and sent to the mines. 
How do you explain that ? ' 

" This sectary recognised no authority. * What do we want 
with them?' he asked. ^ What use have the people for 
government by all these tchinovniks ? How can one single 
person look after the needs of a hundred million men ? No ; 
Government is not for the people's benefit, but, as is clear to- 
day, the people are for the Government's benefit. But all that 
is no affair of mine.' 



Older JRussian Sects. 221 

" After a few moments he went on, * Suppose we take you as 
an example. You are not a bad sort of man, so far as I can 
see. You are, besides, verj intelligent. Now then ! Can you 
conscientiously say, with your hand on your heart, that you 
fully discharge your duty to every one ? Can you keep an eye 
on everybody? Yet your duties are not extraordinarily exten- 
sive. How, then, can you manage that a Government shall 
know everything, control everything, keep watch over every- 
thing ? The result is general disorder, general lying ? — what 
the devil do you want with a Government then ? ' 

"'But one can't get along without authorities. Disorder, 
crime, and theft would ensue. The strongest would always get 
his way, and lord it over everybody. Suppose that I fancied 
your waistcoat. I am stronger than you, and simply take it 
from you. What will you do with me ? " 

*'What will I do with you? The waistcoat cost three 
roubles, and to get it back I spend ten. I ask you if that is 
worth while ? Moreover, to protect my waistcoat I have to 
pay you, inspector, and maintain police, warders, judges. The 
waistcoat is truly not worth all that.' 

" * How would you arrange life, then ? ' 

'"In the first place, I shouldn't arrange life at all. I am by 
myself, I need nothing. That is all. As for the rest, if you 
are strong and will do me an injury, there are twenty others as 
weak as I, and we will handle you in such a fashion that you 
won't want to do an injury to any one else.' 

" ^ There would be endless quarrels.' 

"'Don't you worry! We shall get on very well without you,' 
said the man, positively. 

" His ideas on patriotism were cosmopolitan. 

" ' For you,' he said, ' there are Russians, Germans, Tartars. 
For me there are only men and brothers. The only difference 
is that they speak a different language from mine. As for you 
others, you quarrel continually, you carry on war, you never 
have elbow-room enough. In my way of thinking there is 
enough land, water, and air for all. Give men freedom, leave 
them in peace, and there will be no more strife.' 

" He was a mild and peaceable man, inoffensive in his conduct 



222 Older Russian Sects. 

to his fellow-men. &e never quarrelled nor did any one a bad 
turn; on the contrary, lie came to everyone's assistance if there 
were need, and while they regarded him as crazy, every one 
loved him. 

" But his dislike to authority changed him into an altogether 
different man. He never lost an opportunity of showing them • 
his contempt and protesting against their power. One day the 
governor of the place, a tyrannical kind of man, visited the 
prison. He inspected everything, and put the usual questions 
to the prisoners about their needs and desires. All stood cap 
in hand before him, except the sectary, who looked round him 
unconcernedly with his hat on. This conduct attracted the 
governor's notice. 

" ' Who's that fellow that doesn't take off his hat ? Take off 
your hat,' said he to the prisoner. 

" * The hat's yours, not mine. If you want it, you have only 
to take it off me,' said the man, composedl3% 

'^ 'How dare you? ' roared the governor. 

" ' Instead of yelling like that you had better inquire into 
the cause of the prisoners' wretched lot,' said the sectary, 
quietly. 

" ' Handcuff him ! Flog him ! ' shrieked the governor, beside 
himself with rage. 

'' They seized the unhappy man and took him away. He was 
flogged so severely that the inspector found him the next day in 
hospital, unconscious. He was there a long while, but owing 
to his powerful constitution he recovered. Asked what made 
him behave like that to the governor, he replied, ' I had to.' 

" Soon after he was transferred to another prison, and only 
vague rumours were heard of him. The whip, instead of 
subduing, only hardened and irritated him. He displayed an 
unheard-of force of character, and underwent terrible experi- 
ences. He was flogged and lashed times without number, 
deprived of food, confined for a whole year in a dark and damp 
cell. He bore all without giving way or renouncing his 
opinions. After a terrible scourging in one of the Siberian 
prisons, he was taken by force to the convict mines. All the 
time he was driven forward by a cudgel, but when he got to the 



Older Eussian Sects. 223 

place lie lay on the ground, and tlie fiercest blows could not 
make him get up. The time came to return to the prison ; the 
military guard had to carry him in a wheel-barrow, as if he 
were celebrating a triumph, to the huge delight of all the 
prisoners. One way or another he always had the best of it." 

It should be mentioned that there are some Nje Nashi who 
do believe in a God, but utterly deny the Orthodox God. In 
this they will probably have the sympathy of many. To reject 
the caricature of the All Father that is frequently put forward 
by those who arrogate to themselves the name of " Orthodox " 
is not to deny God, but the devil. But the care with which these 
Nje Nashi conceal their views makes it extremely difficult to 
discover what they do believe. 




15 



CHAPTER XY. 

LATER SECTS. 

Close Connection between Social Conditions and Religious Development — 
The Upper Classes and the People — The Schalaputi — Religious Tenets 
— Communism — Conscience the Sole Lawgiver — Molo'khani and Bu- 
hhobortsi — The Stundists ; their Origin — Letter from a Persecuted 
Adherent — Testimonies to the Moral Life of Stundists — The Missionary 
GatherinsT in St. Petersburg — Bishop Nikanor — Outrages in Kiev — 
Prince Khilkov's Letters — General Ustimovitch's Protest — Character 
Sketches — Ivan Tchaika — Ustim Dolgolenko — Panass Pantilimonovitch 
Tolupa. 

When writing of the older sects, such as the Nje Nashi, 
Skoptsi, and Samoistrehitjeli, we had occasion to remark on 
the close connection between the social, economic, and 
governmental conditions of Russia, and the rise and develop- 
ment of these persecuted religionists. The student of Russian 
IS'onconformitj will find that this inter-relation holds good 
with regard to the later sects also ; this is made abundantly 
€lear bj the great authorities such as Prugavin, Alvamov, 
Livanov, and others, who have written on the sectarian 
movement with painstaking research and great insight, and 
whose pages we have largely consulted, both to correct 
personal impressions and to study their history. On the one 
hand is the emptiness and artificiality of upper-class life, with 
all kinds of unnatural stimulants and consequent weariness 
and ennui, and on the other, the crying inequality, oppression, 
and injustice, with their consequent degradation, endured by 
the masses. These are clearly mirrored in the various phases 
of Russian sectarianism to-day, each of which is, in its way, 
an attempt to remedy the evils of haman life. 

Among the devotees drawn from the upper classes, whether 
belonging to the older and more or less fanatical " Flagel- 
lators" and *' Mutilators " (many aristocratic persons are 
known to have joined these), or to the modern ^^Paschko- 



228 Latek Sects. 



vites," there is mostly a strong emotionalism and earnest 
endeavour to save the individual soul from the evils of this 
world and that to come. The popular sectaries, on the other 
hand, while by no means neglecting the purely spiritual 
aspirations, are usually 'earnestly trying to remedy the social 
evils of this life, i.e,,. to inculcate and realise in all present 
human relations the fundamental principle of practical 
Christianity, brotherly -love. 

That is, among the upper classes there is weariness and 
pes simism with regard to this present life, while among the 
popular sectarians, spite of all the oppression and misery that 
they suffer, there is undying hope and belief in the final 
triumph of righteousness and love here below, and earnest 
endeavours to fulfil the daily prayer — Thy kingdom come on 
earth as it is in heaven. This is true of both the older and 
later sects as regards the endeavours of brotherly love and 
helpfulness, as it was of the earliest Christians; the Old 
Believers at one time established prosperous colonies in the 
most inhospitable wilds of the North, and others have been 
formed in Eastern parts of the Empire by the MoloJchans, &c. 
It is true that in treating of the more fanatical sects we have 
laid stress on a certain pessimistic hopelessness with regard 
to this world, but it must be remembered both that many of 
the adherents of these extremists were drawn from the 
upper classes, and that, in point of numbers, thay do not 
compare with the more moderate sectaries. Among many 
divisions of Russian Nojiconformity of the present day there 
is not simply the practical brotherly helpfulness shown 
to individuals, but also a strong faith in the efficacy of 
righteous social relations to bring true happiness of life here 
on earth. 

Perhaps it is among the Schalaputi, or ^^ spiritual Chris- 
tians," as they call themselves, that this brotherly love has 
found the most thoroughgoing expression in the relations of 
everyday life. The origin of the name of this sect, which with 
so many others sprang up about half-a-century ago, is not 
known. Eaving its birthplace in the province of Tamboff, it 
has, under different names and with changing theological; 



Later Sects. 229 



views, developed and spread very rapidly over the middle and 
southern provinces, especially in Caucasia, where its adherents 
are most numerous. 

At first it seems to have resembled in its views the Ghlisti 
and allied sects, but in later years it has abandoned the more 
negative tenets, such as abstinence from sexual intercourse, 
&c., for more positive and practical Christianity. A peasant 
named Avvakum Ivanovitch Kopylov, of Tamboff, was the 
principal representative of the former tendency; another 
■peasant, Perfil Petrovitch Kutasonov, of the same govern- 
ment, was the leader of the latter. 

It is impossible to sketch a system of their doctrines, 
because they cannot be said to have any, from the nature 
of their primary beliefs. Their chief source of religious 
knowledge and teaching is the ^'^ inner man," i.e., the mind 
and conscience. They attach great value to the books of 
the Old and New Testaments, but do not believe in their 
literal inspiration. Miracles, the creation of the world, the 
Orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, &c., they do not accept 
literally, saying, " These are invented by the priests." 
^'They are for the priests," &c. A logical consequence of 
'these beliefs is unrestrained freedom of interpretation of 
the Bible, which naturally leads to great variety of individual 
opinion, preventing the adoption as a body of any scheme of 
doctrine. They are at one, however, in these fundamental 
principles and in the rejection of the Orthodox Church with 
its priesthood, eiJcon-worshi^, and ceremonies. Their meetings 
are held in private houses, or in secluded spots on the steppes, 
or within the forests, and consist of singing, prayer, reading 
from the Bible or other sacred book, and '^'^conversation." 
There is no clerical caste. 

But that which binds them together is not theory but 
practice. " All men are brothers," is the central doctrine on 
which their outer life is built. It is heard most frequently in 
their '^ conversations," and from it the duties of life are 
deduced. 

The first duty of all is to work. It is immoral and sinful to eat 
the fruits of other people's labour, when able to work for oneself. 



230 Later Sects. 



Hence all other means of getting a living are rejected. To lend 
out money on interest^ to receive a salary for fulfilling social 
duties, or to trade for gain is wrong. None of these occupa- 
tions are found among tliem ; all labour for the most part at 
agricultural work. Thej are very industrious, and set a notable 
example to the surrounding Orthodox population in all respects. 
In selling their products they never take advantage of com- 
petitive conditions to secure the highest possible price, but charge 
what, in their opinion, they are really worth. 

They both own and cultivate their land in common. Their 
houses are also common property, and are mostly built in 
groups of five or six, with no fences between. Sometimes 
two or more families form one household, so that they have 
associated homes in the fullest sense. 

All the produce of the land they divide into four parts : one is . 
reserved for seed ; a second is stored up to guard against famine ; 
a third is for home consumption ; and the fourth for sale. The 
income of the community is distributed accordingto the wants of' 
each family ; all are expected to work, and all are amply provided 
for. Besides looking after those within their community, they 
give as much help as possible to those outside — " because all 
men are brothers." If they lend out money, they receive no 
interest, and they never sue any one for debt nor for wrong 
done. In fact they carry out in practice the motto often heard 
upon the lips of would-be socialists in England — " From each 
according to ability, to each according to need." 

When differences arise between them, they are settled 
by the community in the common meeting. No docu- 
ments are kept and no rules followed. " Conscience " is the- 
sole arbiter, and so strong is the collective conscience that all 
abide by its decision. These meetings, where all matters of 
common interest are discussed and decided, have a strong 
" family " character, and mostly end with a common social 
meal. 

There are, besides, " meetings of the fathers " ; that is, of 
the most prominent members of the different communities,, 
which are united in an association. Here are discussed matters, 
affecting the entire body, such as the needs of weaker communi- 



Latets Sects. 231 



ties, the aid of persecuted families, establisliment of colonies, 
and so forth. 

The Schalaputi have the distinguished honour of being 
branded by the authorities as '' a very dangerous sect," and 
have suffered severe persecution. Yet thej have many 
thriving communities scattered about the empire, and chiefly in 
Northern Caucasia, while there are great numbers of adherents 
in other places who are prevented from organising themselves 
into communities, but practise their principles of "brotherly 
love " as individuals. 

The followers of the celebrated peasant Suttajeff, whose 
tenets so much resemble those of Tolstoi, also lead as far as 
possible a communistic life, and other sectaries of different 
names are Christian Socialists. 

"We have already described a meeting of the MoloJchani (p. 79), 
The literal meaning of this term is " milk eaters," because 
they consume milk in Lent. They are, in fact, an evangelical 
sect who reject ecclesiastical authority and ceremonials, and 
apply their common - sense to religious matters. The 
DuJchohortsi, or " Spiritual Fighters," are another division of 
Evangelicals. Like most others, they are firmly opposed to 
all militarism and the use of violence, and are of much higher 
character than the Orthodox generally. They are at present 
suffering great persecution in some parts. 

The Stundists, of whom much has been said and written of 
late, form one of the most prominent and influential Eussian 
sects of the present day. The name of this sect, as is well 
known to many, is derived from the German word Stunde, an 
hour, because it received its principal impetus from German 
pietists who had settled in Southern Russia, and were in the 
habit of meeting for '' an hour " of prayer, singing, reading and 
meditation on the Gospel. 

A Russian peasant named Ratuschni, who had worked for 
these people, became converted at one of their meetings, and 
began to preach the "Stunda" among his countrymen, and 
quickly gained a large following. This was in 1864. Since 
then the denomination has spread very rapidly, especially in 
Southern Russia, so that at the present time its adherents may 



'232 . Later Sects. 



be numbered bj hundreds of thousands. As a body the Stun- 
dists have no fixed creed, but hold what are usually known as 
the evangelical doctrines common to Protestants in Western 
Europe. 

A large proportion hold Baptist views with regard to that 
sacrament ; the large majority adopt the Quaker's attitude to 
military service and swearing, and all are much less formal- 
istic and dogmatic than most Western Protestants. They lay 
the greatest emphasis on the practical side of Christianity. 
Their services resemble those of the early Christians, and they 
maintain no special clergy ; ^^ elders " are appointed instead. 
They do, however, sometimes support missionaries. 

The Stundists also have in many cases formed themselves 
into communities for the purpose of putting into practice more 
thoroughly the principle of Christian brotherhood , but they 
retain the institution of private property. 

They have been and are still persecuted by the Russian 
Government in the most barbarous manner, on the flimsiest 
and most absurd pretexts, such as "favouring the German 
Emperor," '^'^ being Socialists," &c. They are at present 
.*^ deprived of all rights," and treated accordingly, 

To give some idea of the way in which these inoffensive 
Christians are treated both by the authorities and the Orthodox 
mob, we give some letters and documents out of a pile in our 
possession that would in itself make a complete volume. 
Mention has already been made of a letter from a Stundist 
peasant which Count Tolstoi read to me (p. 63) . Here it is : — 

" . . . You wish to hear from me, and I will now briefly 
tell jou some of my last experiences. A few miles from the 
city of Kursk lives a brother in Christ who owns a small 
piece of land. We wished to live together, and I therefore 
moved to him, and got part of his land, about four acres ; on 
this I sowed different kinds of corn, which soon began to grow 
and ripen. We wished, as I said, to live together, and now 
rejoiced over God's blessing on our labour ; but then a storm 
broke over our heads. 

" On July 15th we began very early to cut the corn. After 
breakfast my brother went to the house, and I began to sharpen 



Later Sects. 233 



the scjtlie. As I was doing this a constable came up to me 
and roared out_, ^ Stop that ! ' took mj scythe from me, and 
brought me to the police-station. Arrived tbere lie called 
out, ' Where is the police ? ' After a time the chief of the 
police came in. 

"' ' Here is the Apostle Mozdza/ the constable said to him. 

'' The chief of the police then began to shower on me the 
coarsest insults for being barefooted and with nothing on 
mj head. ' What are you loafing about here for, you damned 
lazy loon ? ' 

*^^I am not lazy,' I replied. ^ I always work when I am 
able.' 

" ' You scoundrel, you are withoat boots and a hat.' 

" ^ It is hot, and I perspire when I work.' 

^'^ ^ An orderly worker dresses orderly.' 

" 'J. have clothes, but was not allowed to put them on before 
I was taken from my home.' 

" ' Why do you not go to church ? ' 

'^' ' I follow Christ and His Word, and do not consider it 
either necessary or edifying to go to church. God bids us love 
our neighbour as ourselves, yea, even to love our enemies. Do 
you do this, Mr. Chief of the Police ? ' 

" The chief of the police replied by drawing his sword and 
raising it over my head, roaring out to the constable, ' Beat him 
with the knout ! ' 

" I answered with the words of Jesus, ' Blessed are ye when 
men persecute you.' 

"The chief of the police then bellowed out, ^Thou 
Satan's ! '* 

" The conversation continued in the same strain. Afterwards 
I was left in charge of the people occupying the house . Later 
on the chief of the police came back and ordered the constable 
to do things that did not belong to his office, and with which 
the chief had no business to meddle. 

" I was then sent nine miles further, having to walk bare- 
footed and bareheaded in the scorching sun. Thanks to God, 
however, it soon began to rain, and my sunburnt head was cooled. 
* The word here used is too coarse and blasphemous to be translated. 



234 Later Sects. 



When we arrived at our destination I was again brought to the 
police. Here I was asked^ 

(( ( "Why do you not fulfil your duty as a dizasTci ? ' * 

" ' My father does it in my place.' 

" '^ You must do it yourself. If not^ I will teach you TiowJ' 

" I replied that I could not do it. I was then shut up in 
prison together with murderers and other criminals^ who were 
awaiting their sentence. Among these I found in the dense 
crowd amidst dirt and vermin my dear sister in Christ'* 
(spoken of before). *'0n the following day we were sent 
together to another place in a cold storm — I having still to 
walk with bare head and feet — marching fifteen miles_, escorted 
by gendarmes. Here I was again brought before the police, 
and they said to me, 

'' * Tou must go and do your duty as a dizaski.' 

*• ' I cannot do it.' 

ff^Why?' 

**' Because I am a Christian. I cannot serve in a way that 
compels me to occupy a position as policeman over my 
brothers. Christ was the servant of all, and he that desires to 
be a follower of Christ cannot occupy any other position than 
that of a servant and a brother among brothers.' 

" ' Why, we are all Christians, as many as have the Orthodox 
faith.' 

" ' I do not know if, and to what extent, you are a Christian. 
For my own part my conscience at least tells me what a Chris- 
tian ought to be. Waare Christians only so far as we follow 
after Christ in our lives.' 

" ' Do you make the sign of the cross ? ' 

"^Isthata proof of Christianity? Christ says that only 
those who do His will and keep His commandments are His 
true disciples.' 

" The chief of the police again commanded me to perform 
this official service, that they were trying to compel me to- 
fulfil. I refused. Then I was taken to the prison, and did not 
know what was going to become of me. 

*'^!N'ow, judge for yourselves if it can be a Christian act on the 
* A kind of police service, filled by the peasants in turn. 



Latee Sects. 235 



part of the authorities to treat in such a manner those who with 
all their heart desire to follow Christ, loving* their neighbours 
as they love themselves, and therefore refusing to occupy a 
position that would imply a violation of their obedience to 
Christ and their love to their fellow-men. 

" While I was in this place the chief of the police again 
came and commanded me to perform the above-mentioned 
service^ saying, ' Go and do your duty.' 

" I answered, ' I cannot do a public service in which I shall 
have to act as a police over my brothers.' 

" Then a priest came in, accompanied by other persons, 
among whom were some gentlemen. The priest said, 'Render 
unto Ceesar the things that are Csesar's.' 

''I answered, * This I do; but the things that are God's I 
must not render unto Csesar. The body I render unto Csesar, 
but the will unto God.' 

" The priest asks, ' Are you Eussian ? ' "^ 

"'lam the Lord's.' 

"The priest : ' "We all belong to the Lord and are Christians, 
if we have the true faith.' 

" I answered, ' The true faith is to follow Christ and do His 
will, and His will is that we should all and each of us love and 
treat each other as brothers ; yea, even love our enemies.' 

" The Priest : ' Yes, we love our enemies, and we desire to 
make them better in the prisons." 

" ' Yes,' I replied, * in former days the Church used to burn 
people to death in order to save them.' 

" The Priest : ' But we never do that.' 

" 1: ' No, in the present time they are slowly tormented to 
death in prisons, or left to starve to death.' 

"Although they loved me, yet they took my work from me, 
and reduced me to misery " (referring to his former sufferings) 
" and now, when I had found a refuge and got a small piece of 
land of my own, I was torn away by violence from my home, 
like a common criminal, although I have done no harm." 

I have mentioned the placards that I saw in Saratov, vili- 

* Eussian in this sense is equivalent to " Orthodox.'' 



236 Later Sects. 



fying the Stundists. For the better understanding of what 
follows, it will be well to give more details of these. One of 
them consisted of a newspaper extract, reporting the sermon 
of an Archbishop, Ambrosius, in which he said : " The 
Paschkovites and Stundists destroy the foundations of the 
moral life of our people, because they deny the power of the 
holy sacraments, tliey spoil the true believers' efforts for 
righteousness and the experiences of their spiritual life. The 
Stundists take everything from the true believer, and give him 
nothing in return but denunciation and slander against the 
Church ; and Paschkov's teaching altogether denies the efficacy 
of good works towards salvation, and, in so doing, opens the 
door to every possible crime. That this really is the case is 
seen in the life of the young among the people, in the increasing 
drunkenness, theft, murder, attempts at railroad robberies, 
parricide, child murder, &c., which were formerly unheard of." 

How unreasonable is this attempt to brand the evangelical 
Christians as the cause of the increase of crime may be seen 
from the fact that the Russian press has for twenty years 
criticised the life and teaching of the sectarians, and con- 
tinually condemned them for schism and rejection of the 
Orthodox Church, but never for offences against morality. 

Moreover, from the mouths of the Orthodox leaders them- 
selves have come the most weighty testimonies to the strictly 
moral life of the Nonconformists. In 1891, for example, the 
great Orthodox missionary gathering in Moscow reported the 
following : — 

"^ We have examined the Stundists from the moral point of 
view. They have no fixed creed, but endeavour to build on a 
foundation of practical Christian morality. In their outer life 
they try earnestly to fulfil the ethical commands. In contrast 
to the surrounding people, the Stundists keep Sunday as holy, 
drink no intoxicants, smoke no tobacco, use no foul language, 
abuse no one, &c." » 

Still stronger is the following, from a sermon by an Orthodox 
bishop, Nikanor, in the government of Odessa. Taking for 
his text Deut. xxviii. 44, '^'^He (the stranger in the land) shall 
lend to thee, but not thou to him ; he shall be the head and 



Later Sects. 239 



thou the tail," he said : ''1 once travelled through a village, and 
as soon as I entered it, I saw a gin-shop. I went in and asked 
the keeper if he were MoloJchan, Stundist, or Orthodox, and 
got the answer that he was Orthodox. Then I asked him who 
were his chief customers, his neighbours, the Mennonites, the 
sects just named, or the Orthodox. * Mennonites or sec- 
tarians ! ' he exclaimed, ^ I assure your Excellency, that you 
could not get them inside a gin-shop for any money. The best 
customers I have, certainly, are the Orthodox.' 

" I left the place greatly depressed, and thought within 
myself the Bible's saying, ' he shall be the head,' is true of 
the sectarians and Mennonites, and ' thou shalt be the tail,' 
of you, beloved Orthodox Christians. As I passed along the 
street, I saw a neat house, and went in. The owner received 
me very politely, and brought me into a poor but tidy room. 
There was no picture" (of a saint) "in the corner, but, instead,! 
saw, on a table that was covered with a white cloth, a Bible 
and New Testament. I asked the man what faith he professed, 
and learnt that he was a Molokhan. 

'' I could see from his conversation that he was a sober and 
orderly man, and, besides, well grounded in the Holy Scriptures. 
As I took leave of him I passed the same reflections as on 
coming out of the gin-shop. Not far from this I saw another 
neat and pleasing-looking house. I went in there also ; the 
man was a Stundist, equally friendly, sober, and orderly as the 
MoloJchan, and even better acquainted with the Bible. 
Besides the Bible I saw on his table ' Spiritual Songs and 
Psalms.' I had the same thoughts as when I left the 
molokhan. As I went further along the street I met a rabble 
of drunken fellows, shouting and singing obscene songs in 
harsh voices. I knew them for my own sheep, and was 
ready to weep. I thought once more of the Lord's word : 
* Thou Shalt be the tail.' " 

Our readers will now be in a position to appreciate the 
following extracts from correspondence furnished by a 
Stundist lady well known to us, who is compelled herself by 
persecution to live outside Russia. The truth of the narra- 
tive given does not depend upon one but five different 



240 LA.TER Sects. 



correspondents, giving names and details of the monstrous 
oatrages perpetrated upon innocent victims in the name of 
Orthodoxy. 

"September 8th, 1892.— Permit us hereby to inform you 
that in the villages of Kapustintsi and Skibentzi, in the 
volost of Babenjetskaja, in the district of Skvirskij and the 
province of Kiev, all the male members of evangelical or, 
Stundist households are taken every day by force, according- 
to the orders of the isjpravnik " (chief of police) " and the 
natcholnih" (official next to the Governor) " of the district, to the 
public works of the village communities, where they are 
forced to work under the guard of gendarmes until quite late. 
Then they are again taken out to serve as night watchers, the- 
women and children being left at home at night. While the 
men are thus kept away from their homes by force, the 
starosta and starshina" (heads of the town and village), ^'in 
their official capacity, and wearing the badges of authority 
on their breasts, get together a band of drunken villains 
and break into the homes of the defenceless women and 
children, maltreating the latter, and committing the most 
heinous outrages on the former, smashing the windows and 
destroying everything they come across. In some izhas they 
set fire to refuse and rags, and shut the doors on the poor 
inmates, thus tormenting them through the whole night. At 
sunrise the men are again sent to work at one place, the 
women and children at another. 

" If any of these Stundists have horses, even they are taken 
to the works of the village communities, where they are kept 
working all day, and left without food in the night. As a rule, 
it is impossible for these unhappy men and women to buy or 
sell, or even to prepare food for themselves. In fact, they are 
treated worse than if they were criminals sentenced to penal 
servitude, and all this they suffer for the sake of the Gospel. 

'^When they work or serve as night-watchmen they are 
always guarded by soldiers. '^All these sufferings are greater 
than we can hear,' they write ; 'even all our hooTcs are tahenfronv 
us. We are oppressed to such a degree that we cannot even maJce 
our cries of distress heard hy any.' " 



Later Sects. 



241 



In anotlier letter, written in pencil on a scrap of paper and 
handed furtively to a friend for fear of tlie police, the perse- 
cuted victims say : — 

" Dear Brethren, — We beg of you warmly and with tears to 
take this paper, either you or someone else who can cry out 
loud. Maybe someone may hear this cry of distress in this time 
of despair. They grasp us at present by the throat, so that we 




A TRANSCAUCASIA TOWN. 



-cannot even call out so as to be heard. ... A terrible 
calamity has befallen us." 

The report of these atrocious outrages reached Prince 
Khilkov in his exile, and he managed to despatch the following 
note both to the Governor of the province of Kiev and to the 
Minister of Justice in St. Petersburg : — 

*^Your Excellency, — I hereby enclose two letters which I 
have received from peasants in Kiev, who are persecuted 
for the sake of the Gospel. I send these letters to your 

16 



242 Later Sects. 



Excellency for tliis reason, that I find it hard to believe that 
all these monstrosities that are being perpetrated in these 
villages are done in accordance with your order. I cannot 
understand how outrages committed by a band of drunkards 
upon defenceless women and children, this kerchief-pulling 
from the heads of women " (a great outrage in the eyes of 
Russians), *^ this filling of izhas with dirty water, &c., can be 
measures officially undertaken to put down Stundisni in the 
government of Kiev. It is disgraceful that such means of 
opposing Stundism and bringing back the apostate to the 
bosom of the Orthodox Church should be adopted at night and 
in drunkenness by the Church's own children. Your Excellency 
will doubtless agree with me that the coarsest nocturnal out- 
rages on women are hardly the measures calculated to inspire 
much respect for the faith of their perpetrators. 

" Finally, I appeal to your Excellency to do your utmost to- 
mitigate the sufferings of the persecuted Christians in those- 
regions." 

Kiev was by no means the only theatre of these outrages- 
Such pamphlets as " The Damned Stundist," the sermons and 
speeches of priests and " Orthodox missionaries," and other- 
means of incitement still more despicable had their natural 
result. Prince Khilkov sent the following letter to the Arch- 
bishop of Kharkov, dated February 3rd, 1893 : — 

^' Your High Holiness, — It is pleasant to every man, engaged 
in any kind of work, to see the fruits of his labour. Admire 
then, your High Holiness, the fruits of your own. The 
repeated appeals made by your Holiness and other like-minded 
spiritual shepherds, who are described in John x., have 
found a ready response in the hearts of the village police in the 
province of Kiev. Now rejoice ! 

" The placards which by your orders are being nailed to the 
church walls, and in which one part of the population is 
incited to hate the other; the pamphlet ^The Damned 
Stundist,' which has been circulated by your High Holiness 
with so much zeal; your own and your helpers' sermons 
delivered in the churches, have finally accomplished the aim for 
which they were written and pronounced (for should one think 



Later Sects. 243 



tliej had any otlier aim, lie would deny to you and your accom- 
plices tlie possession of common-sense). 

"■ Houses are demolished, windows smashed, furniture and 
tools hac ked to pieces, izhas are filled with smoke and water in 
order to still more torment their inmates, new zealots of ' the 
sign of the cross ' invent a new and original means of compel- 
ling women to cross themselves . . . ! 

^''At the judicial investigation of the matter, the lowest tools 
will, no doubt, alone be found guilty, just as in all railroad 
accidents the watchmen always are the guilty parties. But 
who are they who incite these blind tools 9 

^'^In the village of Pavlovka, in the district of Soomi, a police 
officer, accompanied by a dean and two priests, belonging to 
those parts, rebuked the peasants at a public meeting for 
tolerating Stundists among them. ^ In other places of Russia/ 
they said, ' such people are torn in pieces/ probably alluding to 
the government of Kiev, and wishing to evoke the same 
disorders in their district as have occurred in the volost of 
Babinjetzkaja. Is not this to incite — to speak ahout ' tearing 
to pieces/ the Stundists in their midst, as is done in other 
places ? 

^^Happily the community of Pavlovka, thanks to the awaken- 
ing faith in the teachings of Christ, is no longer a suitable 
soil for such seed. Otherwise the Orthodox zealots would here, 
too, have been able to act in the same spirit as at Kiev. 

^^If it be denied that the atrocities on the 'yo?os^ of Babinjetz- 
kaja have been committed through incitement, the following 
question arises : Where, then, were the spiritual shepherds of 
the same volost while these lowest ' servants of justice ' com- 
mitted their barbarities, which continued, not for one or two 
days, hut for several months? Where, then, were the chiefs of 
the police ? — these spiritual shepherds and chiefs of police, 
whose Argus eyes never overlook anything, not even the boiled 
chickens in the peasant's pot during Lent, and whose talons 
remove with striking success ' this evil ' (i.e., the chicken) from 
the peasants' homes. 

''These lowest of the blind tools of the police and priests will, 
no doubt, be punished, but the instigators ? The hand of the 



244 Later Sects. 



Minister of Justice does not reach them; but so much the 
more must their own consciences punish them — if thej have 
any at all. 

"I beg your High Holiness most earnestly to cease your 
incitements. You must see that no good will come of it, nor 
can it. Remember that to propagate one's faith is one thing; 
the circulation of a pamphlet like ' The Damned Stundist ' is 
quite another. May the enormities of Babinjetzkaja be the 
last ! At least see to it that none may have cause to reproach 
you for having had a share in evoking such wicked deeds. I 
think that a man may from such fruits unerringly judge of the 
tree that produces them." 

We are permitted also to give an English translation of a 
protest, sent by General Ustimovitch to one of the highest 
officials standing near the late Tsar, enclosing a copy of an 
open letter sent to him as to other persons of rank concerning 
the persecutions. 

"Permit me to call your attention to the enclosed open 
letter. It is impossible that your High Excellency should not 
have been filled with indignation at the atrocities which, in the 
name of Orthodoxy, have been perpetrated against the 
Stundists in the province of Kiev. If it really be the Tsar's 
wish to oppose the spread of Stundism, the felonious deeds 
described in the letter can certainly have nothing to do with 
the manner of fulfilling that desire. The heart of every 
Christian must be full of deepest indignation at all these 
fiendish acts, which have been committed against peaceable 
Stundists by barbarians who are counted as belonging to the 
Orthodox — and this at a time when so large a proportion of 
the children of the Church are almost drowned in drunkenness, 
sloth, ignorance, and wickedness. It is certainly gratifying 
to see how in the neighbourhood of Moscow — though there 
only — processions of the cross, with hundreds of thousands of 
followers, take place in honour of the purest and most praise- 
worthy Saint in Christ, the most holy Sergius, the wonder- 
worker and light-bearer. But it is sad to know that the same 
Christ, in whose name all saints are worshipped, is in other 
parts of Eussia altogether forgotten, and even blasphemed and 



"~^ JiATER Sects. 245 

wickedly abused. It is sufficient to see that even in the cloisters 
there are found the most deplorable cases of treason against 
Christ and his Gospel on the part of the monks. It is unne- 
cessary to speak of the type of the Eussian pope, so repugnant 
to every true Eussian, and so very far removed from the 
example of Jesus Christ's true disciples. ISov need I refer to 
the general absence of those good and illustrious examples of 
Christian piety and wisdom in high and notable circles, which 
ought to mark the true progress of civilisation. All this is 
more or less known, and also the fact that our theological 
seminaries are far from being nurseries in which to train true 
shepherds and servants under the sceptre of the loving Christ. 
But why increase the evil, which only encourages the masses 
and village authorities to commit such outrageous violence 
against the most peaceful part of the population ? Such a 
system is hardly ijolitically wise, because the oppressed and 
tormented, becoming martyrs in their own esteem and the eyes 
of those like-minded with them, gain in strength in their 
difficult position, which is more likely to increase than to 
diminish. 

" There can be no doubt whatever that the Tsar knows 
nothing of the atrocities described in the enclosed letter. If 
they were known to His Majesty, then the methods of the 
opposition to the Stundist propaganda would be conceived in 
quite a different manner, at least on the part of the local 
authorities in those places where the persecutions are going 
on." 

The following character sketches, taken from, life, will both 
illustrate the Stundist character and throw light on many 
traits of Eussian life. They were written by an Orthodox 
Eussian. 

IVAN TCHAIKA. 

Ivan Tchaika was always a very pious peasant. None of 
the villagers said prayers or crossed themselves so zealously as 
he did ; none bought such expensive pictures of saints ; none 
made so many pilgrimages to Kiev. In his own words, a 
spiritual fire burned within him. But in vain he said his 



246 Later Sects. 



prayers and listened to tlie singing in the churcli, in vain lie 
knelt for hours, bowing his head repeatedly to the damp earth. 
He was dissatisfied with himself, for it seemed as if he could 
never fulfil his Christian duties, and he felt that his Heavenly 
Eather was dissatisfied with him too. 

"While yet a boy an incident occurred that made a deep and 
lasting impression upon him. He was acquainted with a 
young girl named Paraska, a poor orphan in the service of 
a Jewish saloon-keeper in the village. According to 
Tchaika's account, though handsome and clever, she was 
yet ^' a little strange." Her look was always pensive, and 
her eyes seemed ever filled with tears. She never laughed 
loudly like the other village girls, but mildly, with a peculiar 
silvery tone in her voice that at a distance would be taken 
for sobbing rather than laughter. Often she would start 
without a cause, and was always frightened if accosted from 
behind. She disliked hard and coarse work, and in the 
village was known as " the noble young girl," a reference 
to her mother's intimacy with a nobleman. 

Late one evening Ivan came to his Paraska. The moon 
was shining, and the stars shed a pale twinkling light over 
the calm sky. As Ivan approached the Jew's house he heard 
Paraska's voice, as if talking with some one in the saloon. 
Silently drawing near, he found Paraska kneeling before the 
picture of the Holy Yirgin, and her voice had in it the ring 
of real conversation rather than of prayer. And how she 
spoke ! It seemed at first to Tchaika that every hair was 
standing on end and his whole body tingled; but soon his 
eyes filled with tears as he listened to her sincere confession, 
her earnest prayers, her sad voice, and saw that beautiful 
figure bathed in the pale light of the moon. The words he 
heard remained engraven indelibly upon his heart : "■ thou 
most Holy Yirgin, Mother of God, have mercy, have mercy 
on me, poor orphan girl ! Let me not perish, let me not be 
ruined ! Lord ! how shall I live in this world, without 
parents, without relatives, without friends? O Mother of 
God, see how weak I am ! " Finally she burst out, " Mother 
of God ! I am perishing — perishing ! " 



Later Sects. 247 



Ivan himself broke into sobbing, and ran forward to 
Paraska. . . . 

Soon after this Paraska began to lead a bad life, and drink 
with drunkards in the saloon. But this moonlight night, this 
j)ure and innocent Paraska, who prayed so intensely to the 
Holy Virgin, could not be moved from Ivan's memory. Many 
^ time afterwards he tried to pray in the same way, but 
however he tormented himself it was all no use. " If I could 
only pray as she did, if I could only feel as I did when I 
heard her pray ! " But his strongest endeavour was in 
vain. 

But the time was to come when Ivan would renew the 
experience of that memorable evening, and increase it. A 
well was opened to him, whence he could at all times draw the 
fervour of prayer. 

His sister had married a certain Ustim Dolgolenko, and 
soon Ivan heard, to his unspeakable horror, that Ustim 
^nd his wife Alona had burnt their holy pictures, and left off 
going to the Orthodox Church. Tchaika, who was a staunch 
adherent of this Orthodox Church, burning with deep indig- 
nation at the conduct of his relatives, set out to bring them 
back to the true fold. Alas ! he himself was led astray and 
became a Stundist. 

This, however, cost him much inward struggle and pain. 
Convinced of the truth of the Gospel, the power of which he 
had experienced at a Stundist meeting, he threw away his holy 
pictures. But night and day the thought that he had done 
something terribly wrong tormented him. Several misfortunes 
befell his family, which added to his torment. He went again 
to Ustim, who read to him from the l^ew Testament, explained 
the Gospel to him, and sent him home comforted and victorious 
out of his struggle. Ivan has now learnt to read himself, and 
knows the New Testament almost by heart. 

Once a gentleman who knew of his past trials said in jest to 
him, ^^ You were frightened at the first difficulties!" Ivan 
replied in solemn tone, " Sir, why do you sneer at us ignorant 
peasants ? It was hard at first to leave the Church with all 
its ceremonies in which I had sincerely believed — but I have 



248 Later Sects. 



left it. You gentlemen, wlio are better than we, why do not 
you openly leave institutions and ceremonies^ in„ w^iich you da 
not believe ? 'No, it is easier to keep silent. It is no use for 
you to come to us with your learning and wisdom. If you 
do not come with a warm faith we will not believe in your 
sincerity nor accept you." 

USTIM BOLGOLENKO. 

Ustim Dolgolenko is a tall, broad-shouldered peasant, with 
expressive brown eyes, thick nose, spotted red, and such long 
moustaches as one hardly meets outside of fairy tales. He 
talks slightly through his nose. Ustim is the village poet,, 
comedian, satirist, and singer. He can sing you verses about 
" The Pope and His Wife," " The Archbishop and the Nun," 
&c. He is the boldest and coarsest in the village, a gallant 
with women, a drinker, in short, a thorough prodigal — the 
most noted and strongest fighter, the most skilful mower, the 
best workman. He is of pliable disposition, soft-hearted, 
frank and honest, humorous, and razor-tongued. IJstiin 
needs none to put him up to playing a trick on pope, hulacJc, or- 
village elder, or to set going an anecdote, jest, or nickname 
that shall immortalise them in the village and neighbourhood.. 
If he has money, he asks everyone to drink ; if he has bread he 
gives to every one who is hungry. He will give his last rag 
to the first beggar that comes, and never refuses to help any 
one. Spite of his sharp tongue all the villagers love him. At 
festivals and other gatherings stories are told of his escapades, 
his sallies, his jokes, and his ditties are sung. The saloon- 
keeper makes money out of him. Ustim has already squan- 
dered his cow, his horse, his izha in drink. All he has left is 
the crop in his field. The land itself he has rented out for two 
years to come, and now must work as day labourer. 

Such was Ustim Dolgolenko. His two years of service were 
spent with the German Colonists, who found him an excellent 
workman, and his wife (whom he often beat) a clever and 
industrious woman, and gave them good pay. Ustim worked 
hard, was sober and abstemious, and returned with a good sum: 



Later Sects. 249 



of money to tlie village. There lie bought a new izha and 
returned to his old work— and his old drinking habits. 

Ustim had an ^' evangelical " neighbour, on whom he 
showered all possible scoffing and mockery. He could swear 
that at the religious meetings held in the house of this Stundist 
he had seen people with pigs' heads, who, nevertheless, howled 
ike dogs ; he had seen it and heard it himself. He had also 
seen d evils with curling locks like those of the Jewish saloon- 
keeper, coming to these meetings with small bags full of golden 
grain. Every time he passed the Stundist's house, returning 
from the saloon, he would shout, " Hallo, Stundist ! Hallo, the 
devil's godfather ! Give me a couple of your golden 



grains 



One night very late, as Ustim was on his way home with a 
bottle of brandy in his hand and a considerable quantity of 
spirits in his head, he saw a light in his neighbour's house. 
In a twinkling he broke through the door and entered the 
izba, which was full of people. They were in the act of 
singing a hymn, but on his unceremonious entrance all became 
silent. 

'^ Halt ! Silence ! " shouted Ustim, imitating the tones of 
a commanding officer. Then he began to sing one of his vulgar 
songs, and to dance. 

One of the Stundist's sisters, a young woman with a pale face 
and great expressive eyes, gazed steadily at Ustim, and then 
glanced round the circle of those present. Her body began to 
shake as with an ague, her lips quivered, and the muscles of 
her face twitched. Suddenly she fell on her knees, all but 
Ustim following her example. " O Thou merciful God," 
cried the young woman, " O Jesus our Saviour, how long 
wilt Thou leave us weak without Thy help ? How long shall 
we wander as sheep without a shepherd, as fatherless, motherless 
children? See, Lord, how we are scattered over the whole 
earth! See how weak and feeble, sinful and guilty we are 
before Thee. Lord, uphold us, give us power, make us able 
to fulfil Thy holy bidding ; lead us. Saviour, in the narrow way, 
and not the broad ! Oh, open our eyes that we may see in 
what darkness we are ! Uplift our hearts that we may love 



250 Latek Sects. 



our neighbours ! Have mercj. Lord, on all sinners wlio are 
here, for we are weak and feeble." She broke down into 
sobs; many of the women wept aloud. Ustim turned pale 
and crouched down, but the whole gathering began to sing 
in solemn tones, " Come to Jesus as thou art," &c. 

Ustim was sobered at once; he tingled all over, with a 
feeling that was at once painful and pleasurable. An 
emotion hitherto unknown awoke within him. His heart beat 
violently, love and reverence took possession of his entire being. 
At that moment a fresh visitor, one of the Stundists, entered 
the room, and having saluted all the brethren, approached Ustim 
and said, in heartiest, most cordial tone, " Good evening, brother, 
peace be with thee also ! " ^^took him in his arms, and kissed 
him affectionately. 

Ustim trembled ; he felt electrified ; tears coursed down his 
cheeks, and he fell on his knees, crying, *^ Dear brothers, dear 
sisters, forgive, forgive me ! I did not know — I thought " 

Ustim is now one of the most pious and staunchest Stundists. 
He leads a sober and rational lif e ; he has since taught himself 
to read, and is considered one of the most gifted preachers. 
He has composed music to several hymns. No one sings at 
meeting, so beautifully and expressively, no one prays so often 
or so freely as Ustim. His wife has regained her health and 
happiness ; they live together now like two doves. 

PANASS PANTILIMONOVITGH TOLUPA. 

Panass Pantilimonovitch is a retired officer of the Black Sea 
Fleet. He took part in the Crimean War, and rece ived many 
medals. His thin, long face looks still longer through his 
thin, long, dark brown whiskers, that seem as if they were 
glued to his meagre cheeks. His eyes are weak and readily water; 
he is unusually tall. Every Sunday P. P. regularly dons his 
shabby uniform, with a mass of decorations on his arms and 
shoulders, hangs all medals possible on his breast, and, leaning 
on his plum-tree staff, with proud and stately steps proceeds to 
Ood's temple. 

P. P. cannot stand present-day soldiers; he has contemp- 



Later Sects. 251 



tuously nicknamed them " marmots." "What sort of soldier 
is that ? " he will vehemently exclaim. '' He has scarcely 
learnt to hold a rifle in his hand before they let him return to 
his old woman ! No ; if he had been drubbed as much as I, 
he would have known what military service is. True, it was 
very strict in our time, and at first it seemed very hard . I very 
nearly hanged myself from the yard-arm, through vexation 
and fright, but after they had cut me down, kept me in 
hospital, and given me some more of the necessary drubbing, I 
lost all my rustic foolishness." 

The neighbours, who know P. P. as a hot-headed, ambitious 
man, often poke fun at him. He gets particularly angry when 
anyone jests at his war-medals and suchlike. Then he raves, 
shouts, and sometimes spits in his antagonist's face. Yet all 
this does not prevent them from highly respecting a man who 
leads a sober life, never takes anything that is not his, makes 
boots all winter and tends his t.ifcchen garden all summer, asks 
nothing from anyone, lives happily with his wife, goes regularly 
to church on Sundays, and reads " Lives of the Saints " at 
home, owns a well-stocked library, consisting mostly of such 
works as '' The Holy Theodora," "Description of Hell," " The 
Thirteen Sufferings after Death," &c. How can they help 
revering a man who never tells a lie — his tall stories of his 
naval exploits not counting as lies — never cheats, and enjoys 
such confidence that on saints' days the saloon-keeper hands 
over his entire stock of vodka to him without measuring the 
amount Or counting the money paid ? How can they do other 
than honour a man who, even when sitting in a dirty grogshop, 
retains the dignity of an admiral, and if anyone misbehaves 
commands " Silence ! Out with you ! " and order is restored ? 
What else can they do but respect a man who always holds 
himself erect before the stanavoj (village police) ; who once 
called the elder of the village district " a venal rascal " ; and, 
finally, is an intimate friend of Psalmsinger Agathon ? 

No one could help loving P. P. ; he was an upright, benevo- 
lent man, who never refused to help the needy. He always 
■stood up to defend the weak against the strong ; he publicly 
withstood the hulack and "mir-eater" when he tried to 



252 Xater Sects. 



oppress some poor fellow. No bully dared ill-use his wife^ 
nor cruel parents to maltreat their children in P. P.'s presence. 
He had nothing- against a moderate amount of corporal punish- 
m ent. "One must punish^" he would saj^, "but it should be 
done with discretion." 

P. P. had no land^ and this grieved him deeply. " What ! " 
he used to exclaim, " an ignorant peasant, who has never 
fought a Turk, never shed his blood for Tsar and country, 
owns land and a house, while I, the officer Tolupa, who am 
known by the higher authorities, whom the General Kornilov 
himself has clapped on the shoulder more than once, who have 
been wounded three times — Tolupa must in his old age suffer 
want like a beggar, without land, without a home ! " 

At first Tolupa was ready to leave everything and walk on 
foot to St. Petersburg to present his hard case in person, but 
he thought better of it, and determined to treat the matter in 
a more common-sense way. ^^Here in Russia we have, of 
course, holy laws," he would say ; " I must treat this thing 
according to law ; then I shall surely gain my just cause." In 
general, he had a very deep reverence for law, and his opinions 
in this re spect were marked by the most childlike simplicity. 

Tolupa took up the matter with great zeal. He wanted not 
only to get something for himself, but to unite all homeless 
veterans in common effort for their cause. But to convince 
the other soldiers in his own and neighbouring villages, he had 
to spend six months, and an immense amount of strength, 
activity, and speech. - Provided at last with a petition signed 
by a hundred men, and attested at the village office, and having 
ordered a mass for the success of his enterprise, he set out on 
foot for the district town, convinced that his cause must be 
crowned with success ; all he had to do was to keep to the law. 
In town he fell in with a " gin-lawyer " (one of the lowest 
kind), who drew up for ten roubles an application to the 
authorities of the district. His application was rejected, in 
the first place, because it was so badly drafted that it was 
impossible to understand what it was about. 

Tolupa took a post as doorkeeper for a month or two, till he 
earned sufficient to get a better lawyer, who wrote an intelli- 



Later Sects. 253 



gible application for him.. This time the district authorities 
discovered that it would not do^ because it was not written 
according to legal form. Tolupa returned to the village, 
continued his work, called his co-applicants together, and 
provided himself with a legal application. One cannot give 
all the details ; it is enough to say that after two years Tolupa 
found that to gain his cause was not so easy. 

When he found that he could get no satisfaction out of the 
district authorities, he bade farewell to his wife, and set off for 
the chief town of the government. At home he was accus- 
tomed to a few comforts, tended by the loving care of his wife, 
but on this tedious march he was soated through and through, 
slept in the open air, ate dry bread, &c. His constitution, 
formerly as strong as iron, though worn, could not withstand 
all these privations. He reached the town with great difficulty, 
and had to spend five weeks in hospital. The Governor received 
his application, and returned it to the district authorities for 
further investigation. . . . 

A year later saw P. P. again marching slowly, with a sack 
over his shoulders, to the government's chief town. He was 
older and more bowed, always restless and excited, both at 
work and at rest ever thinking of this one thing. He had had 
during this time to suffer many insults, sorrows, and disappoint- 
ments, but these did not grieve him as much as the fact that 
those who were, in his opinion, appointed to look after the 
observance of the law themselves trampled it underfoot. 
'^ They are not servants of the Tsar," he cried, indignantly, 
*^they defy his will." 

When, at last, his case was forwarded to the authorities in 
St. Petersburg, P. P. breathed more freely. " Now our cause 
is won. It is no longer insignificant officials, who understand 
nothing of laws and statutes, but ministers ! " He would have 
preferred these ministers to have been military men. ''A 
soldier," he said, " is always just, even if strict, and never 
flinches from the law." He particularly liked the military men 
of the Emperor Nicholas's time. " How is it to-day ? Now 
they take all kinds of liberties on themselves ! " referring to 
the Stundists. " Look at those ignorant peasants, who abjure 



254 Later Sects. 



the hoi J Christian faith, and openly worship idols, and thej 
are tolerated ! In my days they would have come into the 
executioner's hands, and, with nostrils slit, have been marched 
off to Siberia. But now ? Now there are no laws — everyone 
does as he pleases ! " 

It must be acknowledged that as time went on his neighbours 
visited P. P. less frequently, and many avoided him altogether; 
in fact, they were all tired of him. As soon as anyone came 
to him, he began narrating all the details of this lawsuit, 
taking from his trunk a great pile of papers — copies, reports, 
letters, and different resolutions ; if the visitor could read, he 
got him to read all through them ; if not, he would do so 
himself, spelling his way very slowly, and sometimes muddling- 
up the words in a very curious manner. 

It was a severe blow to the old man when a document from 
St. Petersburg, having passed through all intermediate stages, 
finally reached him. It explained that his case could not be 
remitted to the Senate, because sosie of the documents were on 
unstamped paper. 

"^ So the stamp is necessary ! Is that what his wise law 
requires ? " he exclaimed, excitedly, struck his breast with his 
fist, and coughed. "When his wife begged him, with tears in 
her eyes, not to trouble about it, he answered, '^'Why should I 
live in this world? But, do you know, I can no longer walk in 
the street. A^ot only the stupid peasants, but even the children 
point their fingers at me and cry, ' Hullo, Pantilimonovitch \ 
Have you won your lawsuit ? You know the laws ! ' " 

He grew calm, however, when the matter was finally remitted 
to the Senate. " iNow, at last, I need not be anxious. It is 
not for nothing that the Senate is called holy," mixing up the 
Senate with the Synod. 

It could hardly be expected that the old man, on losing his 
case in the Senate, could stand such a heavy blow, for his life 
was centred entirely in this issue, for which he had sacrificed 
so much time, strength, activity, and health. But the reverse 
happened. When, after two years' waiting, he received the 
final adverse resolution, he only grew a trifle pale, and said 
simply, with a half-ironical smile, "May God judge them ! " 



Later Sects. 255 



The explanation is simple. P. P. had, during the interval, 
become changed from a worldly warrior into a soldier of Christ. 
The storj of his conversion is very brief. The principal part 
was played by a little book — the New Testament. Up to his 
68th year, P. P. had never read this, although he could read 
fairly well. Once he travelled a few miles by rail from his 
village, and at a certain station had to wait a couple of hours. 
On the platform he met a man, who seemed a kind of pedlar, 
also waiting for the train. P. P. was a companionable and 
talkative old fellow, and went up to the stranger, saluted him, 
and sat down to a chat. How long they talked I do not know, 
but this much is certain, that the pedlar, who was a Bible 
colporteur, opened his satchel, took out a ISTew Testament, and 
gave it him as a present, having marked a few passages with 
pencil. 

P. P. began to read it with all the eagerness of youth. 
" How could I think myself a Christian without reading this 
book ! " he exclaimed, and set about studying the 
Gospel with increasing fervour. All his sufferings from 
the lawsuit — insults, reproaches from his companions, and 
scoffing from others — drove him to seek solitude, in which he 
found in his newly-acquired book a never-failing well of conso- 
lation. There were many things he did not understand, but he 
read, thought, prayed, and compared its different parts, and 
without having met any Stundists arrived at views much like 
theirs. His lawsuit on behalf of destitute soldiers had sup- 
plied him with many instructive experiences, and trained him 
to look at things with a more critical eye; his childish sim- 
plicity had received severe blows. P. P. knew, for instance, 
before this that the priest Ivan never sealed a coffin (a Russian 
custom) before he had got two roubles. He knew, too, that 
^'Father" Ivan compelled the peasants to work for him on 
Sundays, got dead drunk, and would abuse Agathon, the 
psalm-singer, in the coarsest terms. But he was used to all that, 
and gave it no attention ; now it irritated and repelled him ; 
our soldier began to analyse things. 

Once, on hearing of an outrageous act by Father Ivan, he 
put on his uniform and went to him with the sincere purpose of 



256 Later Sects. 



converting Mm^ and leading him into tlie way of truth and 
righteousness, but he was repulsed in a shameful manner. Soon 
P. P. stopped going to church, and began openly to preach 
a life according to the Gospel, and to criticise the immoral life 
of the surrounding people. 

The Stundists now only needed to come and take him into 
their community. Five years have passed since then. P. P. has 
had during this time to sit in prison for his views, and once 
more to march into the town, this time as a prisoner, with the 
eta'pe transport, to answer charges before the Archbishop. All, 
young and old, scoff at him now ; his neighbours regard him as 
a peculiar man ; the young fellows play him many disagreeable 
tricks, but he bears it all with the stoical calm of a 
philosopher. He has grown old and grey, his thin whiskers 
still hanging down from his wasted and wrinkled cheeks. 

Though bowed with age somewhat, he still retains his stately 
gait and majestic bearing; only the sharp, commanding 
tone has disappeared. If you visit him in the morning 
you will hear him and his wife sing a morning hymn together, 
another before their meal, and at night an evensong. The 
military instinct is still strong within him, and he sings with 
special enthusiasm such hymns as are couched in martial 
strains, such as " Ho my comrades, see the signal, waving from 
the sky," &c. 

In the Stundist community he is highly respected and even 
feared, for no one speaks out the truth in the face of everyone 
more boldly and sincerely than does our naval officer, Panars 
Pantilimonovitch. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE TWO WOELDS, PEASANT AND OFFICIAL. 

Two Nations in One— Study of " the People " — The " Mir " — Peasants' Views 
on Land Tenure — On Jurisdiction Generally — Later Corruption by 
Officialism — Tchinovniks and the " Mir " — Examples of Official Oppres- 
sion — " Uriadniks " or Rural Police — Their Misdeeds — Wickedness in 
High Places — The Logoschino Affair — Experiences of a Eussian Friend- 
Tolstoi's Description of Eussian "Justice." 

The student of Eussian affairs must at the outset grasp this 
fact very firmly, if he would hope to understand the inner life 
•of the nation — that the Eussian people is not one but two. 
We are not speaking of the different races to be found in the 
Empire, but of the two worlds, the official and the popular, 
that meet each other at many points, yet remain distinct in 
kind. It is not simply a lateral division separating the 
-"^ upper classes " from the mass of the people, for the ramifica- 
tions of the official system are so wide and deep that there is 
not a village omitted from their lists, not an individual whose 
life is untouched by the ubiquitous tchinovnik. Yet this 
"tremendous organisation of bureaus, registers, bye-laws, &c., 
"this intricate and complex network of red tape, this all-pene- 
trating and Argus-eyed system of police, remains completely 
outside the real life of the peasants, incomprehensible to them, 
because in its very nature opposed to their modes of thought 
and judgment ; while in its turn the world in which the 
peasants live is as unintelligible to the genuine tchinovnik as 
the spirit-world is to a confirmed materialist. This will be 
illustrated by some account of the manners and customs of 
each. 

It is now about half-a-century or more since such men as 
Dal, Jakushkin, Kirejevski, &c., began to study the life of the 
peasants, before then a terra incognita to the educated world, 

17 



The Two Worlds, P£a.sant and Official. 



and found tliere such traits of character and qualities of 
sterling worth as awoke their wondering admiration. True, 
beneath their nominal Christianity they retained many pagan 
ideas and practices, and to the upper classes showed suspicion 
and mistrust. But in their life with each other they displayec' 
an honesty, reliability, and devotion to the common good that 
contrasted sharply with the corruption of the aristocracy. 
The rise of the modern democratic movement in Russia dates 
from the pioneer work of these explorers in the peasant world ; 
since then thousands of men and women belonging to the 
upper classes have "gone to the people," to learn their life 
and do their part in bridging the gulf that yawns between, 
and many of these have made valuable contributions to our 
knowledge of different sides of the mushiJc^s life. It is of deep 
significance that Count Tolstoi, with his extensive learning, 
penetrating genius, and deep knowledge of men, points his 
educated countrymen who are seeking for a religion of the 
heart and conscience "to the peasants,'' whom he has learnt to 
know better than any other man. 

The centre of the peasant's life is the mir, or village com- 
munity. The origin of this institution is obscure ; according 
to Tchitcherin and others it is not older than the sixteenth 
century, and was instituted by a ukase of Tsar Fedor Ivano- 
vitch ; others recognise in it a survival of ancient usage, dating 
from a time before the rise of autocracy. However that may 
be, whether the mir in title and official connection is or is not 
a thing of recent creation, it is certain that in its purest form 
it embodies convictions and practices that lie so deep in the 
Russian peasant's nature that they can only be explained as 
the result of long ages of use. 

The mir is the village community itself assembled to decide 
all questions that affect the life of the community, where all 
are equal and officialism is unknown. It has, indeed, Sistarostay 
or village"elder, as president and executive agent, but his power 
is not over the '}nir, but from it. 

Of all the matters that occupy the mir naturally the land is 
the chief, and it is here that its peculiar nature is most revealed. 
The Russian peasant has no conception of land as private 



The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 250 



property. The intellectual conception of land to be found among 
economists of every school, as the source of all material, without 
which no one can produce anything whatever, and which no one 
has produced, is with the mushik a deep-rooted moral conviction. 
It is not " my land " in his mouth, but " our land," and this 
refers not only to his own holding, the communal land, and 
what is rented from landlords, but also that on which he 
works for a master. Centuries of slavery, during which both 
they and the land became the private property of the great 
lords, could not beget in them any other idea than that private 
ownership of land was a mere accident of unrighteousness, 
destined, with other unnatural conditions, to pass away when 
the true state of things should become known to the " little 
father " in St. Petersburg. "We are yours, but the land is 
ours " (mi vashi, zemlja naslia), they said to their masters. The 
only ownership, in their eyes, is that of the actual cultivator.., 
and he has no rights in it but that of cultivation. 

Under serfdom it was the function of the mir to allot the 
lands held for their own use under the lords. This, of course, . 
did not apply to the ^' harsJcije," or personal slaves, but to 
the serfs on the land, who in this respect occupied a position 
somewhat analogous to the English villani. After the abolition 
the mir became responsible as a whole to the Government for 
the regular payment of the redemption money, as explained in 
a former chapter. It then became its duty to allot the land to 
the several members, who received their share, and with it the 
proportional liabilities. The adult working male formed the 
unit of calculation, but if in a household the working power 
was increased by the presence of a number of women or boys 
able to assist, this was taken into account. The division was 
revised yearly, and any alteration of conditions allowed for. 
This is still the practice in connection with the lands thus held 
in common. 

The jurisdiction of the mir is far-reaching, embracing all 
civil and a great many criminal matters. Ten village judges 
are elected by the volost, or group of villages ; these must all be 
members of some mir or other in the group, and they decide all 
matters by their sense of right, without law-books, rules, or any 



230 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



other juridical apparatus, of which the peasant has a whole- 
some horror. The jJWicipZes on which they act are the strong 
convictions of all ; the application to special cases is made by 
their conscience and common-sense. 

The principle they follow in relation to the land has been 
mentioned. Equally unconventional and practical are those 
that relate to inheritance and propert}^ in general. Although 
kinship is with them a most sacred tie, it is not of itself a 
sufficient claim to inheritance ; work only can assure this. If 
an adopted son has taken his share of the family labour for a 
sufficiently long time — ten years or so — he enjoys equal rights 
with his foster-brothers, while a son by birth loses these if he 
separates himself from the family. Neither blood-relationship 
nor the " will " of the deceased can be effectually pleaded before 
these village judges against the stronger claim of co-labour, 
though, of course, all this is in complete contradiction to the law of 
the land as understood by the official world. It is interesting to 
note that a man only inherits his wife's property after about 
ten years of labour-partnership ; otherwise it reverts to her 
own family. The Russian State law also limits the share of a 
woman considerably, but the mir-practice recognises no differ- 
ence in this respect. 

The same principle is seen in operation in many directions. 
If, for example, one man sows a part of another's land, the 
matter is not settled by the whole becoming the property of the 
latter, as would happen under State law. If it is a genuine 
mistake, the man who has sown the seed reaps the harvest, 
paying the other rent for the land and a little more ; if done 
intentionally, the owner reaps the harvest, but pays the other 
for the seed. 

According to peasant conception, the authority of the 
mir extends to all matters concerning the life of its 
members ; hence it frequently acts in direct contravention of 
both State and Church law. It has sometimes happened that 
entire communities have decided to adopt a new religion. 
At other times they have used their common-sense and 
declared a man and wife who are manifestly unfitted for 
each other to be no longer man and wife, and treat them 



The Tavo Worlds, Peasant and Official. 261 



accordingly, althougli divorce is not recognised by tlie Greek 
anv more than by the Eoman Church. In short, the peasant 
abhors documents and law-books, and applies his sense of right 
and wrong to every matter, either individually or communally. 
Of course, this is not to say that his resulting conduct is 
perfect ; one can assert, however, that the consequence has 
been a brotherliness and mutual helpfulness that has preserved 
a sweet and wholesome spirit among the musJiihs, in spite of all 
the ignorance, superstition, and degradation due to the miser- 
able condition of life to which they have been condemned by 
human greed and lust of power. The mushik counts it an 
honour to work and suffer "for the mir," that is, for the 
common welfare of those with whom he lives in daily relation. 
He has a great pity for the weak, and even the debased, whom 
he calls by the all-inclusive term, "unfortunate." Nothing 
can be more touching than the practical compassion by which a 
peasant places a piece of bread outside his window, that the 
fugitives from prison or exile may find it in their need. At the 
same time, the mir can itself, on occasion, send one of its members 
to Siberia, if it judges him deserving of that punishment. 

All this, however, refers more especially to the times before 
the misfortunes of later years began to break down the pro- 
tection which the mir afforded its members against the official 
world. Yet much of it is still true, in spite of the ravages of 
Church and State, landlord and JculacJc, famine and pestilence ; 
one would naturally expect these to beget in the harassed and 
poverty-stricken peasants a selfishness and demoralisation of 
the worst kind, but they still retain a rustic heroism, a lowly 
self-devotion to truth and right, that reminds one of the stories 
of the earliest Christian times. But the trail of the tchinovnik 
is found to-day even in the mir itself. 

The official world is " much of a muchness " in every land, 
but in Russia it is to be studied in all its glory and excellence. 
''Tchin " is a word of general import, denoting all that belongs 
to rule and government and external authority, and a tchinovnik 
is a personal member of the huge army employed in enforcing 
that external authority. He is naturally incapable, like his 
brothers all over the world, of understanding how mankind 



262 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



could possibly avoid coming to grief, were it not for his quill- 
driving, his stamped paper, his big portfolio full of sealed 
documents, his red tape, and his carefully-drawn regulations. 
Such an institutitn as the mir, with its absence of bye-laws and 
dependence simply upon the common-sense and conscience of 
the present day, regardless of all codes and rules, is to him a 
monster of anarchy, and from the time of the abolition he has 
been trying to bring it into subjection and " order." Happily, 
the Liberal party was at first too strong to allow of its abolition, 
but a surer way has since been found of accomplishing the 
desired end. The official element has been introduced into its 
constitution, thus linking it on to the vast and complex State 
machinery of which it seems destined to become a mere cog- 
wheel in time, should no radical alteration be brought about 
by some upheaval of those democratic forces that are now 
held under by the military and police. 

The method was simple in conception ; the village elder, or 
starosta, must be made a tchinovnik himself ; in practice this 
was not so easy, for as a rule the starosta, though a man of 
good intelligence and practical wisdom, could not read nor 
write, and a tchinovnik without those qualifications would be an 
unheard-of anomaly. The difliculty was overcome by providing 
him with a j^isar or scribe, who kept the registers, &c., of the 
district, amounting to sixtj-five in number for each volost. 
This scribe has really become the more powerful of the two, 
since the starosta is entirely dependent upon him. His 
authority is wide-reaching, and he generally uses it in a way 
that makes him anything but loved by the peasants. His 
character is usually none of the best, as seems to have been 
desired by the Government, for their regulations forbid any 
one who has been throngh a "gymnasium" to hold the post. 
The starosta himself, though, as just said, dependent on the 
jpisar, has, under the new regulations, become invested with 
official powers over the community, in place of deriving his 
power from it ; he summons and dismisses the mir at his 
discretion, and can infiict fines not exceeding one rouble at a 
time, or punishments of not more than twenty-four hours of 
forced labour or imprisonment. 



The Two "Worlds, Peasant ani> Official. 263 



To complete the slavery of the peasants iinder official 
despotism, a new order of country police was created in 1878, 
called tiriadniJis, chosen from the roughest, and invested with 
practically unlimited powers in their own sphere — two condi- 
tions that have inevitably made them, as a rule, into wild 
beasts in human shnpe. As proofs of this we give instances 
culled first from reports of proceedings in the police-courts, 
and accounts in the Zemstvo newspapers. 

A certain uriadnik named Makoni came one day to a village 
in Samara, Vorony Kust, to attend a meeting at the local 
offices. There he met some friends, one of whom, a well-to-do 
peasant named Chaibol, invited him and others home '^to take 
a glass." As they opened the gate to go, a big sow used the 
opportunity to run out, and took it into its head to follow the 
uriadnik. This he resented as a gross insult on the sow's part 
— and shot it dead. Coming back in a somewhat ^^ elevated" 
condition they met the owner of the sow, a saloon-keeper, who 
asked for compensation. This enraged the uriadnik so much 
that he declared he had a legal right to shoot both sows and 
men, too, if he pleased. An old soldier who stood by observed 
that he, too, had served the Tsar, but had never heard of such 
a law. Without a word the uriadnik rushed at him and felled 
him to the ground, afterwards dragging him with much violence 
to the lock-up. 

Another iiriadnik entered a cottage and found a calf tied by 
its leg to a table. Without further ado he drew his sword and 
cut it to pieces. 

In one place a uriadnik fired point-blank into a crowd of 
unarmed people, and in another he rushed into the midst of a 
number of peasants who were attempting to put out a fire, and 
slashed right and left with his naked sword. 

In the district of Bogorodsk the uriadnik used to steal the 
joeasants' oats at night. Caught once red-handed, he threatened 
to imprison the owner, declaring that he was "in the execution 
of his duty " ; with revolver drawn he went his way in triumph 
through the crowd of enraged peasants. The matter was 
reported to the authorities, but the man •v\as not even 
dismissed. 



264 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 

During my visit to Russia in 1886 tlie following incident 
occurred in the village of Borki, near St. Petersburg, and was 
also the subject of police-court proceedings. JJriadnih Geras- 
simov subjected a peasant named Marakin and the brothers 
Antonov to the cruellest torture. The unhappy victims were 
taken to an ice-cellar, and there stripped naked; their arms 
were fastened behind their backs, and by a rope tied to their 
hands they were hoisted up until their toes just touched the 
floor. In this position they were left for several hours, the 
iiriadnik coming in now and then to see if, by additional 
torture, he could induce them to agree to his desires. Evidence 
was also given that on the way Marakin was bound hand and 
foot, and, fastened by his heels to the back of a vehicle, dragged 
at a gallop through the mud. 

In other places we have given examples of how the TculacJcs^ 
the allies of the tchinovniJcs, handle the peasants, and the third 
party to this Unholy Alliance, the priests, make common cause 
with them in grinding the faces of the poor. We now tell the 
story of what is known as the Logoschino affair, which exem- 
j)lifies the practice of many of the most highl^^-placed officials. 
It would, like other crimes of the same description, have passed 
without notice had not party interest in the highest Govern- 
ment circles made it the occasion of disgracing a rival. Even 
then it took seven j-ears for justice to be done. 

After the Polish rising was suppressed (1863-4), about 70,000 
hectares of land belonging to the nobility who took part in the 
insurrection was confiscated, but this was not enough to satisfy 
the greed of the tchinovniJcs, who proceeded to plunder the 
peasants. One of these plunderers was General Tokarjev^ 
Governor of Minsk, who received from Potapov, the Governor- 
General, an estate of 3,000 hectares, worth about 9,000 roubles, 
yearly. But this land really belonged to the peasants in 
Logoschino, who had a well-attested claim, and sent a deputa- 
tion to the Governor, with title-deeds, as soon as they heard 
that their land had been made over to him. But the deputa- 
tion was refused a hearing, and the deeds of the peasants " dis- 
appeared " without any traces left. When the Minister of the 
Interior, to whom they had appealed, asked for explana- 



The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 265 

tions from Minsk, reply was sent that the land was State pro- 
perty without shadow of doubt, and the peasants' complaint 
groundless. 

Meanwhile the Governor-General was not idle. When he 
learnt that five peasants were going as a deputation to St. 
Petersburg, he despatched an intimation to the Ministry that 
these men were revolutionists ; result- — they were thrown into 
prison without any trial, and banished to the White Sea coast. 
Everything being now clear in his favour, Tokarjev proceeded, 
in 1874, to take formal possession of the estate. Agents were 
employed to collect the rents, but the peasants refused to pay. 
Twenty-six of them were thrown into prison, and soldiers were 
sent to enforce obedience and the payment of rent. The 
peasants attempted to break through the ranks, but were 
beaten off with clubbed muskets and scared away with a volley 
of blank cartridge. Four days before the news of this reached 
him, Tokarjev had telegraphed to St. Petersburg that the 
inhabitants of Logoschino were in revolt, and had repulsed his 
soldiers. General Loschkarjev was immediately despatched, 
with a free hand. He took a battalion of soldiers and 250 
Cossacks, and marched from Minsk against "the rebels." 

Colonel Kapgar now comes upon the scene, a ready tool in 
the Governor's hand. His first act was to store several cart- 
loads of birchrods in the police station at Logoschino ; then, 
escorted by two policemen, he summoned the villagers, abused 
them in the coarsest terms, and told them that " a general was 
coming with an army who had full power to bury them alive, 
flog them to death, in short, do as they pleased with them if 
they did not at once submit." The terror-stricken peasants 
at once gave way, and sent three of their number to pacify this 
terrible general. They met him some miles from the place, but 
did no good. At evening Loschkarjev with his troops 
entered the village, and at once commanded the Cossacks to 
keep watch all round and see that none escaped. A fresh 
deputation brought bread and salt as tokens of submission. 
But the General would have nothing to say to the '^rebels" 
before they had paid 500 roubles rent for 1874, and 5,000 roubles- 
for 1873 — that is, the year before Tokarjev became possessed 



266 TiiE Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



of the place ! But tliey could do nothing in the presence of the 
armed soldiery but ask for time. They were allowed just forty 
hours, with the intimation that if the 5,500 roubles were not 
then forthcoming, the whole sum of 12,000 roubles would be 
exacted. 

Then the General left matters in charge of the ispraimiJc, 
Colonel Kapgar. He at once refused to allow them even until 
the next morning, and insisted on immediate payment. When 
they represented that they had no ready cash for such a large 
amount he rushed about like a madman, swearing, striking, and 
kicking at them all, and shouting commands for their punish- 
ment. He ordered each of the 233 families to pay him twenty- 
five roubles on the spot, and they had at once to sell their 
goodstothe" Jews " for absurdly trifling sums, or to borrow at 
a rate of 3 per cent, per n-eel-. 

An eye-witness gives the following samples of the treatment 
meted out to these unfortunate people, whose only crime had 
been refusal to pay rent to a robber for land that was their own. 
The peasant Korolevitch was so roughly handled that he never 
recovered. Lukashevitch, an old man of sixty-nine years, asked 
the ispravnih for some days' grace, but he gave him two violent 
blows in the face, felling him to the ground, and thereupon 
ordered him to be flogged ; this was done under Kapgar's 
own supervision, and so effectually that the old man had 
to be carried from the spot. Kapgar even demanded money 
from an old blind beggar, and when he declared he had none, 
hit him in the face and threatened to flog him, but the old man 
went round the village and begged ten roubles. 

The soldiers also, as wassmallwonder, behaved like brigands. 
One of them came to a peasant's hut to take him in the 
middle of the night to the police-station, and while he was 
dressing struck his wife, who was ^^regnant, such a violent blow 
in the back that she swooned, and next day suffered a 
miscarriage. 

By these means Kapgar collected the amount in two days, 
iind it was sent to the Governor. The troops were withdrawn ; 
General Loschkarjev reported in St. Petersburg that the revolt 
liadbeen quelled without firing a shot, or the tiseofany violence, 



The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 267 



thanks to the moderation and tact of ispravnik Kapgar, who 
talked the peasants into a proper frame of mind, and procured 
their submission to their lord's rightful claims. Loschkarjev 
was rewarded with special marks of the Tsar's favour, and 
Kapgar received a high military decoration. 

As said above, so the matter would have rested, had it not 
suited Potapov's rival, who had a majority in the Cabinet, to 
take it up. But Potapov was so strong in the Senate that he 
escaped with a slight reproof. Then the Cabinet reported the 
matter to the Tsar, recommending a severe sentence. The Tsar 
endorsed this with his own hand in the words "Most 
decidedly." In spite of this Potapov's party succeeded in 
deferring the execution of the Tsar's orders for three years.^ 

Besides these illustrations, gathered from public records, we 
here give some notes specially written by a friend in Russia 
for our use, containing descriptions of cases that have come 
under his own personal notice. 

A snowstorm is raging, with dismal howls. If we go out of 
doors we are at once covered from head to foot with driving, 
penetrating snow, or bitten in the face by a cold, sharp wind. 
If we sit in a warm room our thoughts turn with a sad 
unwillingness, with prickings of a half-wakened conscience, to 
the traveller who is overtaken by so terrible a storm. I do not 
know whether it is better for travellers on horse or foot. A 
pedestrian runs great risk of exhaustion and burial in some deep 
snowdrift ; a rider may equally perish with his steed. But for 
us who are just now fighting a famine storm it is a day of rest. 
No applicants for aid throng our doors, and we can spend some 
hours in our own pursuits, giving ourselves uj) to thought, 
busying ourselves in household matters, reviewing the past, or 
planning the future work, bringing into coherence many of the 
impressions we have received. I will use the occasion to set 
down some of my experiences of the recent past. 

* * * * * 

A glorious winter evening. It is more than 20° (Peaumur) 
of frost ; the sun is overcast. Through the grey clouds is seen 
just one red streak of sunset. A frost mist fills the air, hiding, 

* See Poriadoh (the official Gazette), 1881, Nos. 330—340. 



26S The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



as with a rosy veil, the nearest as well as the niore distant 
hills. 

I go out by the shore of the Don. On the steep bank, 
opposite where I stand, is a village looking, in this evening 
light, as if of porcelain. I see an even row of cottages, with 
pink, round, overhanging roofs, and below these a ravine, 
leading to the Don, where piled-up snowdrifts seem to glide in 
finely-moulded shapes. And the outlines of all are softened by 
the translucent frosty mist. 

Through this village I had to pass, and began to wander off 
in the direction of the bridge that crossed the Don. From the 
other side] a small figure came rapidly to meet me. Soon I 
recognised a little girl of about ten years. When she came near 
enough to see who I was she uttered in her small, childish voice 
the well-known, usual words, "I am coming to your grace." 
"What do you want?" 
" My mother is dying." 
" Come, I will go with you." 

We went up the steep bank, and as we approached the village 
the beautiful vision disappeared. To begin with, I saw that 
from several roofs the straw had been taken, so that only the 
framework stood there, like gnawed skeletons. Beneath the 
overhanging roofs the walls of the huts stood up, half buried in 
the snow. Openings were dug through the drifts to. the small 
frosted windows which, however, were almost hidden behind 
heaps of dirt and refuse. 

We entered the last cottage in the street ; its owner had 
built it in more prosperous times, for it was of brick. Under 
present conditions it is more miserable to live in than those 
built of wood. Inside was darkness, damp, cold, and foul air. 
I recollected that the day before a little girl had come from this 
house to ask for money ^' for gas," i.e., for lamp oil, and I had 
refused. They must then have applied to a rich peasant in 
the same village to lend them some. 

The girl took a vessel and ran out, slamming the door after 
her. When my eyes became accustomed to the gloom I could 
distinguish the objects within. Doors, window, corners, and 
rents in the roof, with the lower part of the walls, were all 



The Two Woulds, Peasant and Official. 269 



covered with rime. The rest of the roof and the upper walls, 
that retained some warmth from the day just gone, were wet, 
and streams trickled from them in several places. On the oven 
lay a heap of rags and old clothes. From it came a noise, 
something between groaning and snoring. A hollow sound 
reached me from another quarter, but just where I could not 
tell. I could see no one on the bench. 

The girl returned and lit the lamp. 

"Where is your mother? " I asked her. 

^'^In the oven, and father is on top." 

She opened the oven and put her head inside, calling, 
^' Mother, come out, harin (the gentleman) is here." 

I had known this family for some time. The girl was not 
their own, but the illegitimate child of a soldier's wife, and 
granddaughter of the old woman whom she called *^ Mother," 
because she had grown up under her care. The old woman 
*^was dying," that is, was ill. Her husband had been so for a 
long time, and no one now troubled about him. When he 
heard our voices he rose up, groaned out something, and lay 
down again. The day before they had used manure as fuel, and 
had not yet recovered from the exposure to the fumes and 
smoke from it. 

Soon after my entrance a young woman came in. She was a 
daughter of the old woman, and lived with her family at the 
•other end of the village. Now she had come to visit her mother. 
At sight of me she burst out crying, and lamented her 
wretchedness. Her family, also, was suffering from lack of fuel. 

**Icame to move them to my place ; they cannot live here. 
But what a life is in store for us ! God help us ! I have seven 
children of my own. Our cottage is smaller than this, but it is 
built of wood ; with snow all round it is warmer, but here it 
is unbearable." 

I approved her plan, and promised to help them with fuel. It 
was one of those families that were eating up their last 
resources, of which we have so many. This obliges us to adopt 
the method of crowding two or three families into one hut, and 
giving fuel for the one place, otherwise we should not have 
•enough for all. But we have not ourselves the courage to tell 



270 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



them to crowd together in this way ; this packing of people in 
polluted air is terrible. Still it is the only way of keeping them 
from freezing to death. 

'^ We must move at once, because to-morrow my husband is 
going away," began the young peasant woman, putting some 
things into a sack, while she roused up the old people. 
" Where is he going ? " 
''To the volost." 
''What for?" 

" The stanavoi (police commissary) is coming there to collect 
taxes." 

" But why does your husband go there? " 
" They are driving them all together, from the whole village 
district — all who have a plot of land." 

I did not believe her, and could not understand her discon- 
nected talk, but went to the starosta. He belonged to the 
" inhabitants " ; that is, he possessed a cow and two horses, 
and was consequently regarded as " settled " ; he had no need 
to go round looking for work, a condition that is becoming 
rarer every day. But his position was not enviable, for he had 
a large family. He had been a soldier. When I asked if it 
was true that they were driving them all together to the volost, 
he answered, " Yes, it is true, your high-born nobility." 

But even he could not explain the whole matter. All he 
knew was that everyone had received orders to be at the office 
of the district by 8 a.m., and that the stanavoi, and perhaps the 
ispravnilc himself, would be there. 

When I left the starosta, the evening had cleared, and it was 
as light as day. The cold was more intense, and the moon 
flooded the hills and valleys with her pale beams. As I went 
homewards, the snow crackled under my feet with ringing 
sound. After crossing the Don, I turned again to look from 
my own shore at the beautiful village. It was more beautiful 
still in the gleaming light of the moon. Then I recalled the 
order of the village police concerning the next day's meeting, 
and determined to be there and see what would happen. 

Next morning I meant to start in time to see the beginning 
of the meeting, but business hindered me, and I could not leave 



Thk Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 



till later on. The meeting was called for 8 a.m. ; I left in time 
to get there about 11 o'clock, and was afraid I should be too 
late. The cold was still more intense. When I came to the- 
village in which the district office was situated, my attention 
was at once attracted to the great crowd. At several izbas stood 
teams of peasant's sleighs together, the horses taken out, but 
not unharnessed. They stood with heads hanging down, every 
now and then shivering all over ; some were munching a. 
handful of straw that had been thrown them ; others had not 
even this meagre fodder. The sleighs were empty ; only in a 
few there was a layer of dried leaves at the bottom. The 
peasants were standing close together in groups in the street. 
The villagers were not willing to receive guests in their houses. 

I had visited this village a little while before, to inquire inta 
the condition of its families. I knew well how cold and 
damp were those huts inside — the usual winter condition in 
that district. They are very careful over their warmth, and 
few will lend their huts to strangers. It was only those with 
relations there that could get shelter. As I passed the groups I 
recognised many faces. I knew this district well, had visited 
every village, almost every hut, and every face I recognised 
brought to mind some special suffering, some particular 
distress, that had brought about our acquaintance. It was one 
of the poorest districts in all that part of the country. 

By some mistake it had been counted among those that had 
had a good crop, and three volosts that had suffered more from 
bad harvest than last year had been refused relief loans, and 
now it was demanded that those received last year should be 
repaid as well as the taxes. 

As I approached the office the peasants were more closely 
crowded, and there were still more sleighs with wretched- 
looking horses and sad-faced men. The vestibule and the 
session-room were thronged. I pushed through the press to 
the table, where the local authorities, the starshina and the 
pisar (scribe), were seated. 

" Has the stanavoi arrived ? " I asked. 

'^Not yet," answered the starshina, a short man, dressed in 
a peasant's cloth coat, with thin dark hair, and a restless,, 



272 The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 

cowardly yet stubborn, look on liis face. His small dark eyes 
sought mine, and his voice varied as he gazed, from fear to 
affected humility, and again to truculence and confidence in 
his authority. 

The scribe was a young man, dressed in a kind of jacket, 
whose face wore an expression compounded of scepticism and 
routine. 

" Where is the stanavoi then ? " 

" In the village close by. It is said that an old woman has 
been frozen to death there, and he is detained about the body," 
answered the starshina. 

I left the office, having given directions that I should be 
sent for when the stanavoi came, and went to a hospital in the 
neighbourhood, where a physician of my acquaintance lived, in 
order to warm myself. 

As I passed through the village I called at several cottages 
where I had business, and afterwards spent a couple of hours 
with the doctor, expecting the message, but none came. 

I returned to the office. It was 4 p.m., but the stanavoi had 
not yet arrived. The hungry, shivering peasants were still 
standing in the streets as in the morning. Large numbers 
were grouped before the drink shops. What had they to spend 
in drink ? Their last sheep ? Their next harvest ? I do not 
know. Cold and hunger had compelled them to have recourse 
to this poison. We may not judge them. 

1 approached one of the grouj)S, and was immediately sur- 
rounded. ^^Has he not yet come? " I asked. 

"No, and we do not know when he will come either." 

It was painful to look at these people. Why had they 
gathered here in the morning ? I went again to the office. 
The starshina was still sitting as before at the little table. 

^^ When is the stanavoi coming? " I asked. 

" I don't know. Something has detained him." He looked 
still more frightened and disquieted. 

" Why do you not dismiss the meeting ? " 

'' I cannot do it. He may come at any moment." 

" But night is coming on already. What will the stanavoi 
do here then ? " 



The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 273 

" That I do not know ; but I have no power to let the 
people go." 

I advised him again to dissolve the meeting, and started for 
home. After I had walked some way I saw long rows of men 
and sleighs leaving the village ; the starshina had evidently 
dismissed them. 

Afterwards I learned that he had kept the starostas, and the 
chief of the police had arrived at 7 p.m. ; he gave strict orders 
that the taxes were to be collected, threatening to sell up the 
peasants to the last stick. Then he left. 

What is the cause and purj^ose of all these unnecessary 
sufferings ? 

It is night. The storm howls still more fiercely. I have had 
only one applicant for relief to-day. Through this terrible 
weather he had come a distance of six versts (about four miles) . 
When he came in he fell on his knees before me. 

" Let me not die of cold ! " he said, in a quivering voice. 
" We have had no fire for two days. . . . My family . . . 
the children — barefooted." 

I turned away. Hastily I wrote an order for five pud of 
wood, and gave it him, trying to avoid his look. He left. 

So far, my friend's description. In another letter I was told 
that these peasants had been jpuhlidy flogged in the cruellest 
way by order of the authorities because they could not pay 
their taxes. 

Count Tolstoi allowed me to use an extract from his book, 
then in preparation, which described the manner in which this 
flogging takes place, as seen by himself. This book has since 
been published ("The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You"), 
but we retain the description as fitly supplementing the narra- 
tive just given. 

On 29th of September last (1892), as I was travelling to a 
famine-stricken place, I saw, at one of the railway stations, a 
General steam up in a special train, with a small company of 
soldiers ; they were on their way to Tula, to punish several 
unruly peasants, who had dared to withstand a young lord, 
who had flagrantly trampled on their rights. . . . 

18 



274 The Two Worlds-, Peasant and Official. 



I describe this occurrence, not because it was anything out of 
the way, but because it was the only one I have myself "witr 
nessed, and for the truth of whose description I can personally 
vouch. . . . 

The troops were drawn up before the door of the courthouse. 
A band of policemen with new red belts, in w^hich were loaded 
revolvers,, were stationed round the little group of guilty 
peasants, who were waiting the punishment of their misdeeds. 
Some way off stood thousands of men, women, and children, 
who were there as spectators. When the Governor-General 
arrived, he stepped out of his carriage and made a short, sharp 
speech, at the end of which he ordered a bench to be fetched. 
This was not at first understood, but the police officer who 
attended the Governor, and was responsible for seeing the 
punishment carried out in an effectual and orderly way, ex- 
plained with terse directness that his Excellency wanted a 
bench on which a man could be thoroughly well flogged. This 
was speedily forthcoming, a bundle of specially-prepared rods 
hrought forward, and the executioners called to the front. 
These were two runaway convicts, since no soldier would 
himself be used for this degrading work. 

When all was ready, the Governor ordered the first of the 
twelve peasants, reported by the landlord as originators of the 
riot, to be brought out. The victim was a man in the forties, 
the father of a family, whose uprightness had become a 
proverb, and who enjoyed the respect and confidence of his 
fellow-citizens. He was told to undress and lie on the bench. 
The peasant made no attempt to beg for mercy ; he knew the 
uselessness of such a prayer. Silently he made the sign of the 
cross and lay down. Two policemen ran to hold him in his 
place. By his side stood a physician, to render medical aid if 
necessary. 

The convicts spat in their hands, struck a blow through the 
air with their rods, and began the flogging. The bench was 
seen to be too small, so that it was difficult to hold the writhing, 
tortured man upon it. The General ordered a wider bench to 
be brought, and a plank fastened to each side. One of the 
soldiers saluted and answered, " Aye, aye, sir," and hastened 



The Two Worlds, Peasant and Official. 275 

with, all liumilitj to fulfil the great man's command. Mean- 
while, the poor, half -naked man stood there with doleful mien 
and sunken ej'es, his under- jaw shaking, and his bare legs 
shivering. When the other bench was brought, he was fastened 
more tightlj to it, and the floggers resumed their work. At 
every blow the gaping wounds became more frightful and 
ghastly. Back, sides, and limbs were streaming with blood, 
and after each fresh stroke the victim uttered a hollow moan 
of pain, which he strove in vain to repress. From the 
thronging circle round came the sobs of the martyr's wife, 
mother, and children, besides the frightened, quickly-checked 
cry from those whose turn was to come next. 

The miserable Governor-General, who in the intoxication of 
his power persuaded himseK that he was obeying the call of 
duty, counted the strokes on his fingers, as he calmly smoked 
a cigarette, which an obsequious adjutant lighted in the flame 
of a match, held up aloft. 

After more than fifty strokes, the peasant ceased to cry or 
move. The skilled physician, who placed his services and 
knowledge at the disposition of the Provincial Government's 
hospital, stepped forward to the tortured being, felt his pulse, 
s tooped to listen if his heart were beating, and informed the 
representative of the Imperial might that the victim was 
unconscious, and that further punishment would be at the risk 
of his life. 

But the Governor-General, more than ever intoxicated with, 
his brief authority, maddened like some wild beast at sight of 
blood, commanded the punishment to proceed, and the torture 
was renewed until the seventy strokes were complete. It seems 
as if, from some unknown cause, this seventy were a sacred 
number, to fall short of which would be an affront to 
justice. 

Then the Governor took his cigarette from his mouth and 
said, '' Enough ! Bring out the next ! " 

That tbis is not exceptional, but carried on to a frightful 
extent, may be seen from these statistics. In two villages in 
the district of Slobodski, in the year 1878, no fewer than 618 



276 The Two ^Voelds, Peasant and Official. 

heads of families were flogged for not having paid taxes.* 
Between 1878 and 1881, out of 1,200 heads of families in a, 
single village district, 797 were flogged.f In 1884, 178 out of 
415 peasants were flogged in three villages in the province of 
Kiev, for arrears of taxes. J In a period of less than six 
weeks, in ten villages of the district of Nova Ladoga, in the 
province of St. Petersburg, 224 heads of families out of a total 
of 517 were flogged, for their inability to paj the taxes 
demanded by the " paternal Government." 



* " Sketches of Self-Government." S. A. Priklonski, St. Petersburg: 
1SS2. p. 173. 

t " Annals of the Fatherlanfl," May, 1882, p. 159. 
X " cketcbes of Self-Governnient/' p. 356. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

IS THERE A REMEDY? 

A Conversation— A Russian's Views— The Fatal Breach — True Division of 
Labour — Healthful Development — Paramount Claims of Life — A Revolu- 
tion Inevitable — '• Go to the People." 

Can anything be done ? is the question that must be upper- 
most in the minds of those who have read the preceding pages 
and in any degree formed a living conception of the state ot 
things there depicted. It is not for us to give an answer, but 
we may fitly close with a presentation of the views of many 
Russians themselves as to the right way out of the evil 
conditions that sap the life of that unhappy country. The 
conversation here given is fictitious only in that the real names 
of the participants are withheld, and many things are brought 
together which were said at different times. Otherwise, the 
substance is a true record, and the occasion is historical and 
not imaginary. 

"The essential cause of the general and constant misery 
among the masses," said our friend Kudrin, filling a glass with 
tea from the boiling samovar, " is the unnatural gulf that 
yawns between the so-called * upper ' and ' lower ' classes." He 
spoke in his usual quiet manner, with a depth of conviction 
that was born of wide experience, extending over many years, 
both among the peasants and in " society." Of aristocratic 
birth and education, he had, as a young man, moved in the 
highest circles, but had afterwards abandoned both rank and 
property, and " gone to the people," among whom he had lived 
a long time, working hard to help them both in material and 
moral things. My other companion in the low and damp izba, 
where we had gathered round the samovar at the close of a 
day's relief work among the famine-stricken, was a jovial 



278 Is There a Remedy? 



physician, who, in character, opinions, and appearance, pre- 
sented a strong contrast to the serious Kudrin. 

" The terrible distress among the peasants can be perman- 
ently remedied in no other way than by abolishing this 
unnatural cleavage between the masses and the so-called 
people of ' intelligence.' " 

" Explain your views as to the cause and cure of this misery 
more fully," I said to K. 

'^No, rather let us have a consultation," he answered. "We 
are like quack doctors, working daily side by side with the 
recognised physicians of society. Let us then have a con- 
sultation." 

" Bien, allons ! " chimed in the doctor, breaking off his 
humming, and beginning to drink another glass of tea. 

^'We start then," said K., "from the proposition — that, at 
least, as far as I am concerned, has the force of an axiom — thai 
it behoves every man to think and act according to his true 
nature, to satisfy the real wants of his body and soul, and 
promote his healthful development." 

'' Excuse my interrupting yon with a demurrer to. your 
axiom," I said. *^You know that Professor Metcherkajeff 
denies this proposition in his criticism of Count Tolstoi and his 
views in the Vestnik Europi, pointing out that man possesses 
rudimentary organs which have lost their functions during 
the process of his evolution. Therefore, he argues that the 
presence of an organ does not necessarily imply the duty of 
using and developing it. What do you say to that ? " 

*' This atrophy of any organ takes thousands of years," he 
answered, " and it is only when the use of one is superseded 
by that of another that it takes place. In all probability, 
should the present conditions of civilisation hold good for 
some thousands of years, man would lose both arms and 
legs " 

" Yes," broke in the doctor, jestingly. *' The descendants 
of our well-fed friend, Tikvov, will then look like pumpkins on 
toothpicks, those of Professor Metcherkajeff like puffballs, and 
our ladies of the heau monde, after looking for centuries like 
wasps, will finally break in two at the middle." 



Is There a Remedy? 279 

" I believe, though, it will be long enough before we reach 
that stage," went on Kudrin. "Even the professor and his 
friends seem to agree that man must exercise his body as well 
as his brains, if he would be really healthy, since they praise 
gymnastics so highly, and that is merely a substitution of 
artificial exercise for natural work. To-day, among upper- 
class people, it is considered a great achievement to handle 
iron balls with ease and skill, to exhibit extraordinary powers 
of climbing, jumping, running, &c., without any other 
object than that of excelling others. About these matters 
telegrams fly round the world, long newspaper articles are 
written, books are published, and costly institutions are estab- 
lished, while our fellow men, who need our help in their 
struggle for mere existence, are left to themselves." 

Here the doctor made some objections, which Kudrin 
answered, and then went on : 

" I stick to my proposition, that it behoves man to live and 
work in accordance with his true nature ; to procure for himself 
the sustenance for his body, to protect it against hurtful 
influences, keep it in a heaJthy condition, and give to both 
soul and body the power to use, create, and enjoy life, thus 
attaining to the highest good. 

" But in this work, that should be harmonious, an unnatural 
division has arisen, so that one part of mankind uses only the 
brain or mind, and the other only the body. But, just as an 
engine cannot work well without an engineer, so it cannot be 
good for physical work to be done without the mind to guide 
it. As the mind can do great things within the sphere of 
imagination and theory, but cannot provide the body with 
its necessaries, so the brain-workers have become men of 
imagination and theory only, while the bodily toilers, deprived 
of necessary mental culture, have sunk to the level of beasts of 
burden, or soulless machines. 

, ** If the engineer leaves his engine, it may certainly run for 
a time, but sooner or later it will stop work ; the water in the 
boiler will be exhausted, the bearings wear out or perhaps take 
fire, or something will happen, and the machine either come to 
a standstill or be destroyed. Now we see that the great mass 



280 Is There a Remedy? 

of labourers, deprived of the advantages of intelligent labour, 
go on working long and usefully, but sooner or later their force 
inerte is used up. 

''The engineer, on the other hand, who leaves the machine 
he was set to manage, may go on for a long while dreaming 
and constructing clever theories, finding satisfaction in his 
works of genius, but at last he must die of want and hunger, 
unless he returns to the machine that produces the things 
needful for the sustenance of life. So we see the so-called 
intelligent classes engrossed in their brilliant theories, that 
float in the air like balloons without ^^allast. But the decisive 
crisis is approaching. ' The kingdom which is divided against 
itself, &c.' The kingdom is man, the engineer is his reason, 
the engine his physical body. Through the division of these 
elements in his nature, the individual man must perish, and so, 
also, must the society that consists of individuals so divided. 
This is the state of things at the present time. With one 
class of men reason is dead and inert; with the other, the 
bodily organs have become unable to be used for their purpose, 
and these men have become unproductive dreamers." 

"But your analogy is not quite exact," I interrupted. "Your 
opponents themselves, the dreamers, assert that they are the 
engineers of humanity, and look on the physical workers as 
machines. According to them, this is one of the first principles 
of the division of labour, and is of axiomatic force in their 
eyes." 

" Wait a little ; I will soon explain further. I know that all 
comparisons are defective ; every figure illustrates only a part 
of the truth. We know, well enough, that a small minority 
exert themselves as ' engineers ' over all the rest, whom they 
manipulate as machines at their pleasure, but that this should 
have the force of an axiom is absurd. My comparison is de- 
fective, for in the case under discussion the machine and the 
engineer cannot be separated. I wanted to enforce the idea, 
by means of this figure, that the engineer must not be set over 
the machine except in one and the same organism: It is only 
when their mutual work is free and natural that they can fulfil 
their true ends ; apart, they will never succeed. Mutual and 



Is Theee a Eemedy? 281 



harmonious work will never be effected through compulsion. 
When violence puts the engine in motion it soon destroys the 
whole machinery, bringing with it general ruin. 

"But there are other means than compulsion for achieving 
this end ; there is one that does not hurt, but gives life and 
strength. This is the co-operation of love. True moral love can 
unite the different elements, but it is very rarely given the 
opportunity of showing its strength. 

"J. do not object to division of labour in general, but most 
decidedly do reject that at present in force. There are two 
radical vices in the prevailing division. First, it is not based 
on free exchange, but on the slavery of the weaker, under the 
rich and powerful. Secondly, the specialisation is made without 
regard to considerations of health, or the conditions of life in 
general. 

*' There is no other cure for the evil than the union in the same 
'person of these two kinds of work. In this way only can they 
become powerful for good. The division of labour, whose one 
justification is the greater production of the special brand of 
work, will always take place. More than that, it will be greatly 
extended for the benefit of labour, but always on condition 
that violence and compulsion be suppressed, and a law estab- 
lished, enforcing due regard to the sanitary, moral, and 
intellectual needs of every individual worker. The truth must 
be inculcated that there is no ' black ' and ^ white ' labour " (a 
Russian distinction for lower and higher labour), ^'and that 
there is no labour that is in itself useful or hurtful, no occupa- 
tion that is moral or immoral, without taking into account the 
work imparted to it by the labourer himself. 

^' You cannot allot work to classes of men as intellectual or 
physical, for by such division human life is destroyed. You 
can distinguish between the intellectual and physical parts of 
each branch of production, and every man must share in both. 
Of course he cannot manage the entire work of production him- 
self, but he must accommodate himself to that portion of it, 
both intellectual and physical, for which he has the greatest 
capacity, and this distribution must in no way be dependent 
on questions of caste or any privilege whatsoever." 



282 Is There a Eemedy? 



" There always have been and there must always be class 
divisions and other differences in external conditions. It is a 
law of nature," interpolated the doctor. 

" In the face of such an awful chronic dearth in a land of 
such immense resources as ours, inactivity is unpardonable, and 
it is frivolous to talk of such a state of things as necessary and 
natuval. Nothing can be more w^natural ! But the remedies 
we propose are considered so new-fangled that they bring 
suspicion on both themselves and us. 

" The famine now raging is not of yesterday ; for many years 
its causes have been at work, and the bad weather was only the 
occasion for revealing the chronic misery and the constantly 
decreasing working power of the labourer, deprived of all 
mental culture, oppressed by violence, with his whole life 
distorted. 

" They object that this calamity is only incidental and local ; 
that a couple of good years will set all right ; that this year 
there has been a good harvest in Caucasia, and in other parts of 
Russia, in Europe and in America there is corn. I reply that 
there certainly may come good harvests, but they will not 
remove the evil. The sudden leaping of the flame is no good 
sign. Not much discernment and honesty is needed to see 
that, if the present conditions continue, the life of the people is 
like an expiring candle flame : it still burns and sometimes 
flares, but it is nearly gone out. 

"Occasional revivals of prosperity cannot remove the distress. 
They say there is much corn in Caucasia, but they have not 
been many years there at the process of exhausting the land, so 
that they still get large supplies. The same is true of Central 
and Southern Russia and America, but in Western Europe does 
not a large part of the population already depend on foreign 
bread, and perish with those who feed them ? This present 
distress has had a bad effect on Western Europe, which 
to a great extent lives by the production of articles of 
luxury, all kinds of trash, which they force on the rest of the 
world. 

"If the present division of labour, or rather sundering of 
mankind into two parts, is to continue, it must lead to a not 



Is There a Eemeuy? 283 

far-distant ruin. Salvation lies only in the reunion of the 
severed parts, and the healing of the whole." 

^' If such a union between the spiritual and the physical, the 
so-called '^ intelligent ' and ' working classes ' is possible," I 
said, "why has it never existed, generally speaking, and why 
doos it exist nowhere at the present day ? Differences of caste 
and class have always been the rule among all peoples and in 
all times. 

" That is true, but what has become of all those peoples with 
whom caste has flourished ? They have perished with their entire 
civilisation, or been vanquished by other races. The Indian, 
the Egyptian, the Greek, the Roman, the Spanish and Moorish 
civilisations have all perished in this manner ; the French is in 
the act of perishing, and the same fate will overtake the 
English and German civilisations. What remains of the 
thraldom under the yoke of tyrants during those long 
centuries? The Egyptian pyramids, the Eoman Coliseum, the 
stones of which are cemented with the sweat and blood of slaves. 
The lasting inheritance which these peoples have left behind 
them in the shape of useful knowledge and fruitful thought i& 
not the result of caste ; it rather came into being in spite of it. 
There will remain of European civilisation mere ruins of huge 
fortresses, temples and palaces, monuments of the intolerable 
dominion of militarism, priestcraft, and Mammon -worship, of 
the calamitous severance of ^' upper" and "lower" classes, of 
schism between intellect and brute force. Shall we follow the 
disastrous example of these peoples ? " 

" What do you suggest, then, as a means of remoulding 
your social life, and radically changing its direction?" I 
asked. 

" Just what is done with soil that has become barren and 
covered with weeds. You plough it again, plough deep, and 
turn up the clods so thoroughly that the upper becomes the 
lower, and all is reversed, so that what is at present sustaining 
the burden and pressure may come to the top and inhale fresh 
air, life, and strength. The whole social order must be 
reorganised, human life must be reconstructed- — we must begin 
to live afresh. Only in such a regeneration of society is 



284 Is There a Eemedy? 

salvation possible. However great the sacrifices demanded, 
whatever terrible events may precede and accompany this 
reconstruction, there is no other way of salvation, and all that 
will compel such renewal of life we ought to welcome gladly. 
No change of outward form can deliver us ; the very 
principles of life must be radically altered. 

" As to the nature of this change, since the causes of this 
fatal class separation are moral — greed, lust of power, vanity, 
love of pleasure — so the true remedies must be sought in the 
moral sphere. The life of the upper classes in general, not 
only of the openly reckless and licentious, but of those who 
are regarded as orderly and pious, must be pronounced 
immoral when tried by the standard of Christian ethics. 
How can it be anything else than immoral to live in luxury 
and affluence while my fellow-man is perishing of want and 
misery ? " 

The doctor, who was pacing up and down the room, 
here interjected that luxury was necessary to the State 
besides being pleasant to the individual ; that it was a 
spur to social development, and gave work to a great many 
people. 

" You must pardon me for not taking you seriously," said 
Kudrin, " for every educated man knows now, or ought to 
know, that those are fallacies long since exploded. Emile de 
Laveleye and M. Say, not to mention other prominent 
economists, have amply proved the immoral and inhuman 
character of luxury, i.e., of everything made to excite and feed 
artificial wants and tastes at the cost of much labour. When 
about 40,000,000 of our countrymen are in want of the bare 
necessaries of life, how can it be moral and useful to spend vast 
amounts of capital and labour in producing articles of luxury, 
that are not simply useless, but frequently directly harmful 
and productive of great moral evils ? Where is the good sense 
oP talking of providing them with work to satisfy your lusts, 
when you have first of all robbed them of the right of 
producing necessaries for themselves ? " 

"But," said the doctor, "the poor are contented and happj"" 
in their miser3\ Besides, they live according to Tolstoi's ideal 



I^ There a Remedy? 285 

and yours; they have no luxuries, and live on as little as 
possible." 

"I should not answer your jest/' returned Kudrin, "if it did 
not seem to many people a real argument. It is not true that 
these people are * happy ' in their misery. It is true that many 
have become so degraded that they are incapable of desiring 
to get out of these wretched conditions, but that is a so mach 
stronger indictment against the present social order that 
creates and fosters such boundless misery. Can we blame 
these men who receive such small return for their labour that 
they are driven to live in hovels where a decent farmer would 
not house his pigs ? Even in wealthy France the great majority 
lack the dwellings, food, and clothing needful for the health of 
the bod}'. As for Tolstoi, his work most certainly does not 
prove that he considers the condition of the peasants normal 
and 'happy.' Is it not his life's aim to lift them out of their 
material and spiritual misery, though to be sure it is with far 
other means than that of luxury that he is trying to rouse them 
from their stupor." 

Here the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of 
a peasant, who came in the middle of the night, crying bitterly, 
and entreated the doctor to come to his wife, who was dying of 
typhus. "When the doctor had gone I asked Kudrin if he 
thought there were any prospects of this social regeneration 
of which he had spoken. He answered : — 

*' In Russian society there is a remarkable phenomenon to be 
seen at present, which is not found to any great extent in other 
nations. I mean the ' going to the people ' (khoshdjenije 
v^narode). This does not date from yesterday; it is now 
almost half a century old. People of intelligence, men and 
women, young and middle-aged, go into the country among 
the peasants, devoting all their time and powers to helping 
them, in the endeavour to raise them from their degra- 
dation. The means they have used are of various kinds, 
and some have been attended with but slight apparent 
success, but this cannot hinder the growth of the movement. 
When these men and women find new methods they go and 
put them into practice. The * progressive intelligence ' ^of the 



286 Is There a Remedy ? 

nation scoffs at tliem, the Government persecutes them., the 
ignorant and superstitious people are sometimes incited to 
hostility against them. This is nothing to them ; thej are 
animated by an all-powerful idea, and they will continue to go 
to the people. At present their numbers are larger than ever, 
and what they bring with them is very significant — no learned 
theories, but a simple and natural feeling, the emotion of 
sympathy. Of all the movements of this kind, that of the 
present time is probably founded least of all on social or 
philosophic theory, but simply on the emotion mentioned, on 
"this living force, and if they go in humility, with a true 
practical sympathy with their brothers, suffer and labour with 
and for them, it will not be in vain. Through suffering the 
character is refined, strength is confirmed, love is tested and 
made strong. It is this love that is to unite all as brothers, 
and work for the healing of the dismembered organism, for 
the reunion of those forces of intellect and physical strength. 
From this force that works for uplifting and enlightenment 
shall other forces spring, that will bring with them the 
practical solution of the difiiculties that now face us. To all who 
have gone to the people I would cry, 'Remain there.' Ye who 
have not yet gone, but in whose breasts a heart is throbbing 
with pity for your suffering brothers and sisters, go now to them ! 
This is my answer to your question as to the fundamental 
cause and cure of the distress." 

The night had advanced far into the small hours. The 
doctor returned, and we retired to rest. The conversation had 
awakened in my mind many thoughts, both old and new, that 
kept me pondering until the morning light began to break 
through the little window of the hut. Will Kudrin's beautiful 
dream ever be realised? Will this abyss that now yawns 
between the " classes " and the " masses " be filled before the 
whole gigantic fabric of our present social order collapses like a 
house of cards and is buried in its depth ? Will this dominion 
of organised tyranny, enforced by laws, authorities, and ofiicial 
rehgions, ever be supplanted by "an association of all in 
love » ? 



80 



LONDON : 

•W. SPEAIGHT AND SONS, PRINTEKS, 

FETTEPv LANE, E.C. 





































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